Edinburgh over-tourism: We need a real public consultation about the return of festivals – Helen Martin

That wasn’t helped by the lack of gritting on roads closed for traffic and left for pedestrians and cyclists to fall over and injure themselves.

It was also fascinating to realise that our trams, estimated to have cost £1 billion, were not prepared for Scottish winters and ice, so had to be parked already, and possibly again if the Beast from the East 2 arrives as the Met Office warns.

The new coronavirus variant seems to have paused the campaign from the council and ETAG (the Edinburgh Tourist Action Group) to restore every festival and market and bring about the return of over-tourism from international travellers when we still don’t know how the pandemic is curtailed and how we ever return to normality.

That probably should be suspended, as it seems the only “festival” that might happen this year, if all goes well, is Christmas and New Year.

All in all, isn’t it fair to suggest that our council should commit itself to consultation with the public, local communities, and all councillors, other than just discussion within the coalition, when it triggers major projects and plans and decides the future of our historic, architectural, cultural and highly residential city.

The Scottish government is hoping to emerge from Covid-19 with new plans for how our country moves on and what major changes we can make. Shouldn’t that be the same for our Capital?

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