History of Traffic Management and the Future

Let me take you back to the development of the New Town and illustrate how the City of
Edinburgh Council has deliberately destroyed James Craig’s vision for the area. I
would then like to do a little crystal ball gazing.

The principles of Craig’s plan for the New Town have been a model that is still used in
many countries today. Let me show you.

Here we have the well-known layout. At the west end of George Street we have
Charlotte Square and at the east St. Andrews Square. Premises in both squares were
intended for financial businesses. Princes Street was designed as the main two-way route
for traffic going east and west. The buildings on Princes Street were designed to be
retail premises. On George Street the buildings were intended for commercial use and
those in Queen Street and further north were to be residential.

If you consider the layout of shopping centres today they use similar principles. At each
end of the centre there is a key department store and joining the two stores are a series of
smaller retail outlets - the same principle as Craig used for the New Town.

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When we come to the 1920s more residences have been built to the north of Queen Street
including the Moray Feus properties. At this stage the main through route was still
Princes Street. Traffic from the north used Dean Bridge, Queensferry Street and then
Princes Street. At the East End, Leith Walk had become a major thoroughfare. But now
we have cross-town routes, north to south, principally using Dundas Street and Hanover
Street.

As the city developed, so did its transport system, including trams. Here we have
Shandwick Place in 1946.

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Following a petition from Moray Feuars in the mid 1980s the Council erected the barriers
at the junction of Great Stuart Street and Moray Place in order to reduce vehicles using
the Feu as a ‘rat run’. Bollards and pavement at Forres Street, with a later vehicle closure
at Wemyss Place and traffic calming blisters on Heriot Row, further strengthened this
position.

In 2003 the Council implemented the Central Edinburgh Traffic Management plan or
CETM. This was a major attempt to reduce the number of cars coming into the city. It
was the intention to ban general traffic from George Street and cars were banned from
Princes Street, except those traveling west after 8pm. The result of this was to force more
traffic through residential areas and the Moray Feus. The one proposal that might have
reduced traffic flow through the residential areas of the West End was Congestion
Charging, but this was rejected by a referendum in 2005.

And, so we come to the trams. Their introduction has involved an unusual process,
including Acts of Parliament combined with an attitude of belligerence and arrogance
from the Council and their wholly owned subsidiary, Transport Initiatives Edinburgh -
TIE. I don’t propose to try to encourage your opposition to the trams. They are a fait
accompli, but what I do need you to be aware of is how their introduction will impact all
residents on their route as well as those who live in adjoining streets. But here my focus
is on the West End and the Moray Feus.

At a consultation meeting in 2008 Richard Wood asked a senior representative of TIE

about the impact of displaced traffic on adjoining streets. He was told:

“It is not the responsibility of TIE to consider the impact of trams on additional traffic
through residential areas.”

As part of our studies, we sought QC advice on the problems we are experiencing. Sadly
there is little we can do without incurring huge costs, however, our QC told us:

“ While that issue (of increased traffic and consequential noise and pollution) was
raised in the course of the passage of the Bill by the clients, it does not appear to have
been addressed in the relevant Environmental Statement or Section 11 on Heritage or
Section 13 on Noise and Vibration or in Section 14 on Air Quality, and the response …
clearly suggests that the Promoters consider this aspect of the impact to be irrelevant.
Having been involved in a number of major infrastructure projects I consider it right to
say that this approach does not accord with my experience. I consider it disappointing
and surprising that a Promoter should dismiss the legitimate concerns of a residents’
association in this rather cursory way.

This demonstrates that we, as residents, need to object to the changes imposed upon us
and the paper Edinburgh Trams & TRO1: How to lodge your concerns tells you how.

We have all seen the huge increase in traffic volumes through the West End and Moray
Feus since the tram construction began. Daily traffic through Great Stuart Street is about

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1800 vehicles per hour at peak periods thus making it in excess of 20000 vehicles per
day. These figures already exceed the Council’s own projections for 2011. This has
brought with it clogged streets, accidents and difficulties for pedestrians as well as the
associated problems of noise and air pollution.

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Although the Council promised that the diversions through the residential areas of the
West End and Moray Feus would be temporary, we now know they will be permanent.
This will not only affect Randolph Crescent, Atholl Crescent and Ainslie Place. It is
highly likely that Moray Place will be affected also. So the peace of all of this lovely
enclave is likely to be shattered in the long term.

You may have noticed that the Council has blocked off the top of Broughton Street.
This is so that work can begin to create the Picardy Place gyratory and to lay the
tramlines in York Place. So, where does the Council propose to put the west and
eastbound traffic?

Their solution is to use Albany Street and

Abercromby Place. But, what will happen
when traffic trying to move west, gets
clogged up trying to turn right on to Queen
Street at Dundas Street? Or what will
happen when traffic traveling east, along
Queen Street, gets backed up because of
congestion at the lights when it tries to turn
from Dundas Street on to Abercromby
Place? The Council are likely to relieve
pressure by removing the temporary barrier
at the Moray Place /Great Stuart Street
junction and direct east and west bound
traffic around Moray Place, possibly using
it as a large round about! (Some of you may have noticed that Google Maps already
display Ainslie Place and Moray Place as one-way systems!)

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So much for the present, what about the future? Well, traffic volumes are forecast to
increase. In a few years we shall have the second Forth crossing. Both of these factors
will create additional traffic through the Moray Feus and other residential areas of the
West End. So this increase in traffic is going to be permanent and, as I have illustrated,
this is part of an ongoing policy by the Council. What is being created is an “urban
canyon” and the Council will continue to do all it can to push more and more traffic
through residential areas in order to preserve its sacrosanct route for the trams. This will
happen UNLESS we act to prevent this desecration of the New Town, so creatively
envisioned by James Craig.

This sentence perhaps sums up our frustration.

Impact of Council Policy

The current tram diversions have explored and tested the maximum capacity of Randolph
Crescent/Great Stuart Street to carry traffic, with no measurement of the impact on
amenity, and repeated statements that such diversions are necessary to support the
‘traveling public’.

People who live, work, and bring their families up in Edinburgh do not feel equally
regarded.