Action on tour buses and heavy goods vehicles passing through a neighbourhood due to a road closure has been asked for by Edinburgh councillors.
In July, a stretch of Craighall Road adjacent to Trinity Academy was closed to road traffic with little prior notice for three years to enable rebuilding works on the school.
Now, local councillors have said that the closure has led to heavy goods vehicles and tour buses making their way into previously quiet roads, especially the cobbled Whale Brae.
After a vote at Thursday’s Transport and Environment Committee meeting, council officers will brief local councillors on options to tackle the impact of the closure.
They have been asked for measures to be proposed on closing Whale Brae and Stanley Road to tour buses, and placing signs on Whale Brae saying it is not suitable for HGVs.
Labour councillor Cammy Day put together a motion at the committee asking for action to be taken on the difficulties the closure had caused.
It marked Cllr Day’s first time in a council committee since his resignation in December as council leader over allegedly sexually harassing Ukrainian refugees.
After jogging down to the deputation stand from the public gallery, he told councillors: “Put simply, this shouldn’t have happened.
“Myself and my local colleagues, this was done with no consultation with us, with local community groups. But that, however, is in the past.”
“The likely three year closure at Craighall Road needs properly thought through, and we now have HGVs and tour buses going down a small cobbled street.”
Green councillor Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill said: “We all came together with very similar approaches to the motion.
“It has three themes – the closure’s impact on safety and active travel, the engagement piece in terms of communication, and this problem with Whale Brae.”
Liberal Democrat councillor Kevin Lang added: “Put bluntly, the communications around this were terrible.
“Ward councillors were not properly informed, residents were not properly given advance notice. For works like this, you’re never going to have consultation.
“But just because you’re not consulting with a community doesn’t mean you can’t give them proper notice. That information was sadly lacking at the beginning of this project.”
He said that if communications had been better, especially with ward councillors, some of the issues currently being faced could have been avoided.
Committee convener and Labour councillor Stephen Jenkinson said: ““I appreciate this closure will be disruptive for local residents and businesses – they have my thanks for their patience and understanding.
“Throughout the project our primary concern is for the safety of residents, particularly young people attending school.
“We’ll continue to engage with local stakeholders and make traffic management improvements as the work progresses.
“Ultimately, the complex refurbishment and expansion of Trinity Academy will bring positive benefits for the whole community, but this will take time.”
Councillors also asked for traffic surveys to be carried out on Newhaven Road and Stanley Road ‘as soon as possible’.
They further noted that no formal modelling or impact assessment about diversion routes had been conducted before the closure.
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
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