Edinburgh, with its generally dense population and walkable distances, could be a European exemplar of a pedestrian-friendly city. But the many sensible walking-related policies of the City of Edinburgh Council too often don’t translate in practice into a safe and attractive walking environment on the streets. Motor traffic continues to dominate the vast majority of the city’s streets – yet there are clear economic, environmental and social benefits in prioritising pedestrian movement within a high-quality public realm.
Our overall aim is to:
Promote walking (including ‘wheeling’) as a safe, enjoyable, accessible and healthy way of getting around Edinburgh.
To this end, we want to see:
- walking given the top priority over other forms of travel in all council transport and planning policies;
- a reduction in the volume of motorised traffic and its impact on people using the street;
- better designed and maintained pavements, road crossings and other pedestrian facilities;
- more effective and joined-up monitoring and inspection of the walking environment by CEC;
- planning policy which encourages dense, sustainable housing over car-dominated, dispersed development;
- more effective implementation of pro-walking policies ‘on the ground’.
Our priorities for action in 2021-22 are to:
- campaign for increased budgets (capital and staffing) for the pedestrian environment by CEC;
- influence the annual CEC capital maintenance programme, to maximise the benefits for walkers;
- support the continuation of successful Spaces for People schemes, including supporting LTNs and proper, wider, and uncluttered permanent pavements;
- seek improvements in road safety, including reducing the volume and speed of traffic;
- influence signalled road crossings to give pedestrians more priority;
- support location-specific campaigns including carrying out local street audits;
- grow the number of our supporters and campaigners.
If you would like to get involved in our work in any way, please email us at:
edinburghgroup@livingstreets.org.uk