Response to City of Edinburgh Council’s Traffic Regulation and Redetermination Orders

The University sent a letter to the City of Edinburgh Council’s Traffic Orders department in response to a redetermination order from the Meadows to George Street.

Dear Sir / Madam

Meadows to George Street – response to Traffic Regulation and Redetermination Orders

I write on behalf of the University of Edinburgh. We are supportive of the City of Edinburgh Council’s vision to transform cycling, walking, public spaces and accessibility for all on some of Edinburgh’s busiest and most iconic streets.

Overall the University offers strong support for the Meadows to George Street project. It aligns with our Integrated Transport Plan, by improving the walking, cycling, wheeling and public transport connections between the city centre and the University’s Central Campus.

We do however, have a number comments and concerns:

Forrest Road pedestrianisation

The University welcomes the designs for Forrest Road which addresses the existing poor cycle and pedestrian connection, and introduces more public and green space.

It is business critical that vehicle access is facilitated to the University building, 5 Forest Hill, which can only be accessed from Forrest Road. This building incorporates the Estates Trades Base for the city centre. This facility is 24/7 and is critical to the operation of the University. Information was shared with the project team during the first consultation phase to summarise the 24/7 vehicle access requirements to the building. Our latest summary:

• This is the main location for 8 transit vans that enter and exit this area up to 50 times per day and attend urgent service calls across the city centre Mon – Fri 7am to 5pm.
• During the hours of 5pm to 7am Mon-Fri and 24 hours at weekends, van access is required for urgent service calls. Vehicle movements are significantly less than during core hours, however it is imperative that access is available throughout.
• Multiple deliveries are received into this location daily – often larger items such as boilers, radiators, air filters etc. There is not an option to have these delivered at specific times currently.

We would welcome further consultation to determine:

• How vehicle access into and along Forrest Road will be managed.
• How vehicles will turn into Forrest Road from Teviot Place and Lauriston Place (plans do not indicate if turning into Forrest Road from either direction will be permissible. The absence of this will elongate vehicle journeys).
• If access down Candlemaker Row will be permissible for our vehicles exiting Forrest Road, to provide a less circuitous route to access Edinburgh Futures Institute and ECA.

Bristo Place

We expect that the route will be used by cyclists to directly access the Bristo Square area. The design includes an on-road cycle lane in the southbound direction, but it is unclear how cyclists accessing Bristo Square would be facilitated across the junction with Potterrow.

It is also likely that cyclists exiting Bristo Square northbound will choose to use the more direct Bristo Place to connect with the new segregated cycle lanes at George IV Bridge. It is unclear how cyclists will be safely guided from Bristo Place through the junction with Potterrow and into the segregated cycle lane.

Teviot Place

We highlighted in the 2019 consultation that the design for this section of carriageway did not incorporate improved facilities for cyclists. There is a desire line for cyclists to turn right at the top of Middle Meadow Walk to access Bristo Square. The reality is that cyclists currently use the footway, in part because Teviot Place is one-way, but also as it offers the most direct route and avoids traffic. The latest design will enable cyclists to join general eastbound traffic on Teviot Place but it is unclear if facilities such as a Toucan crossing can be provided to make the right turn into Bristo Square (this comment relates to our Bristo Place comment above). We recognise the constraint of available street space, but we think Teviot Place would benefit from a bidirectional segregated cycle lane that as a minimum connects with Bristo Square.

Footway and cycle lane capacity

We welcome the increase in street space along the route for pedestrians and cyclists. We are concerned that at busier times of the year, some sections of footway will not be sufficiently wide enough to accommodate the volume of pedestrians and they will spill into the adjacent cycle lane. For example, the footway on the north side of North Bank Street and east side of Bank Street. Has any form of physical segregation been considered?

The University is strongly in support of the Meadows to George Street project and we look forward to continued dialogue as the detailed designs and operational plans are finalised.

Yours faithfully

Damien Toner
Director of Estates