​Time for a U-turn on Leith Walk traffic rule - Iain Whyte

​ However, the congestion from the latest botched scheme became glaringly obvious over the Festive period when Lothian Buses was forced to divert services away from Leith Street because of the traffic snarl up at Picardy Place.

Thankfully, this fiasco of the Council’s own making, has led to the Transport Committee agreeing last week that traffic officers find ways to get the buses through the junction.

So far, discussions have ignored the most obvious solution. Reopen the left turn into London Road from Leith Walk and the right turn for the same journey in reverse. Blocking this route has forced all that traffic around Picardy Place adding congestion on the very same traffic lanes that buses use to get from Leith Street to Leith Walk.

In the last Council term, I voted against this left turn ban. We Conservatives foresaw that Leith Walk would become a mile long roadblock to traffic crossing it east-west unless it meandered through residential side streets.

When you add the Council’s permanent traffic congestion on Duke Street and the Leith LTN pushing more traffic onto the already congested Salamander Street it becomes obvious that there are no routes left. The detrimental impact on bus services in the whole North-east of the city is considerable.

All the other Parties ignored us when we predicted longer vehicle journeys and more pollution - both of which Council policy is meant to reduce. Instead, the then SNP/Labour coalition led the way in creating a snarled-up Picardy Place that even cycling and pedestrian campaigners hate.

I support the principle that the Council’s transport hierarchy puts pedestrians first. But most pedestrians visiting the city centre need buses, or perhaps even cars or taxis, to get to where they want to walk about.

We must hope that the Labour led Council completes a full U-turn, ditches the dogma, and reinstates traffic flow into London Road to help all transport modes. However, I’m not holding my breath.