Monthly Archives: October 2015

Tollcross Edinburgh Street Audit – final report

Tollcross-Street-AuditThe Living Streets Edinburgh group organised a ‘street audit’ in Tollcross on 25 and 26 September.  The aim of the initiative was to help the local community identify improvements to local streets in a systematic way and campaign for improvements.  Thirteen people took part, with Living Streets supporters and members of the public joined by people from the Tollcross Community Council and the Edinburgh Access Panel.

The focus was on Home Street and Lochrin Place – streets which will be improved shortly during works to link the cycle network from the Union Canal to the Meadows. The chief recommendations were to:

  • improve pavement surfaces;
  • remove unnecessary fixed obstacles (signage poles, redundant phone box etc);
  • better manage movable clutter (A boards, bins etc);
  • introduce a proper cycle parking plan to meet demand (on street where possible);
  • make enforcement effective – for example, cushioning of scaffolding, management of waste bins and parking controls;
  • install dropped kerbs and tactile paving consistently and properly;
  • ensure that pedestrians can cross the street easily at signalled crossings (especially at Tollcross itself).

A meeting with council officials to discuss the findings will be organised soon and we hope to see improvements introduced this financial year. Living Streets Edinburgh hopes that this audit will encourage other local communities to organise audits of their streets throughout the city, to identify improvements to the design, maintenance and management of the walking environment.

The full pdf report can be downloaded here (3.3mb) – Tollcross Street Audit

Campaigning Group Calls For Delay In ‘Flawed’ New Bus Shelter Programme

CAMPAIGNING GROUP CALLS FOR DELAY IN ‘FLAWED’ NEW BUS SHELTER PROGRAMME 

The City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) should call a halt to its new bus shelter programme [1] while numerous breaches of Council space standards for pedestrians by contractors are investigated, says the walking campaign group, Living Streets Edinburgh [2]. In a letter to CEC Transport Convenor, Cllr Lesley Hinds [3], Living Streets say that “in random sampling in a few areas of the city we have identified a range of locations [4] where the pavement space left for pedestrians does not met the minimum standard in CEC’s Bus-Friendly Design Guide. which states that ‘an unobstructed width of at least 1400mm must be provided along any length of footway adjacent to a shelter’”. The group’s Convenor, David Spaven commented:

“We’ve found some shocking examples where contractors installing new shelters have seriously failed to meet the Council’s own standard that ‘an unobstructed width of at least 1400mm must be provided along any length of footway adjacent to a shelter’. This is highly inconvenient for people on foot and in wheelchairs, and flies in the face of the Council’s claim to be prioritizing the needs of pedestrians. The bus shelter programme is clearly flawed and we’ve called on Cllr Hinds to delay the implementation programme until CEC can be assured that implementation will be such as to (a) meet CEC’s minimum standards and (b) at the very least not make conditions worse for pedestrians at the bus stops.”

MORE INFO:    David Spaven on 0131-447-7764 or 07917-877399

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

 [1] Over 350 ‘advertising bus shelters’ are being provided across the city as part of a 10-year CEC contract with JC Decaux, a major advertising company, see: http://www.jcdecaux.co.uk/edinburgh-live

[2] Living Streets Edinburgh is the local volunteer group of Living Streets the national charity for ‘everyday walking’, see: http://www.livingstreetsedinburgh.org.uk

[3] Letter from Living Streets Edinburgh Group to Cllr Hinds sent 11 October 2015:

‘Cllr Hinds

‘Living Streets Edinburgh is concerned that a number of the new bus shelters now being installed by JC Decaux are failing to meet even the absolute minimum space standards specified for pedestrians in CEC’s Bus-Friendly Design Guide, let alone providing much needed improvements to allow reasonable space for pedestrians. In random sampling in a few areas of the city we have identified a range of locations (see foot of letter) where the pavement space left for pedestrians does not met the minimum standard in the Guide, which states that ‘an unobstructed width of at least 1400mm must be provided along any length of footway adjacent to a shelter’.

‘We are aware of two instances, at Constitution Street and at Buccleuch Street, where the shelters have apparently been installed in the wrong positions, and where remedial action is being taken, or is planned, after this has come to the attention of CEC staff.

‘But there are other locations where the minimum standards have clearly also been breached, such as Crewe Road North (at Selex) and Lindsay Road (at Annfield), and a number of others where the absolute minimum width requirements are barely met, but where the shelters could readily have been positioned to give more space. Examples of the latter are on Ferry Road (at Wash & Valet,  Morrisons and Pilton Drive). In these instances the shelters could have been positioned at the rear of the pavement where an unnecessary c. 0.5m gap has been left (supposedly for cleaning purposes, despite there being no need for such a gap and none usually being left when installing CEC funded shelters).

‘It would seem that JC Decaux and their contractors cannot be relied upon to have any regard for the needs of pedestrians, or for the Council’s standards, even at the most basic level. In the circumstances we are seeking your intervention to delay the implementation programme for the new shelters until CEC can be assured that implementation will be such as to (a) meet CEC’s minimum standards and (b) at the very least not make conditions worse for pedestrians at the stops.

‘In view of the importance of this issue, we will issuing a media statement, embargoed until 10.00 Tuesday 13th.

‘Kind regards

 

‘David Spaven

Convenor, Living Streets Edinburgh Group’

 

[4]

‘Photos of issues noted above:

Still being installed but looks like they will breach standards:

Previous issues that we’ve been informed are being fixed:

END OF NEWS RELEASE

 

Buccleuch-Street-South-BoundConstitution-Street-Kirkgate-House-Measured  Ferry-Road-at-MorrisonsReoseburn-Terrace-Water-Of-Leith  Ferry-Road-At-Wash-n-valetLyndsay-Road-at-Citadel-Tisos

Living Streets Edinburgh response on Draft Parking Action Plan

The Living Streets Edinburgh response on Draft Parking Action Plan can be found here – Response on Draft Parking Action Plan

The main points include

  • Generally this plan is very welcome – an excellent initiative
  • Take space from on-street parking and give it to people on foot
  • Ensure that Council’s Equality Act duties are included in plan’s actions
  • Proposed actions on footway parking are insufficient
  • Don’t let more parking controls mean more street clutter
  • Increase the public acceptability of the plan
  • Evidence on use and demand should support the Action Plan