🗳️ June's 'Full Council' meeting roundup
As well as our bi-monthly coverage of the City of Edinburgh Council's Transport & Environment Committee, we also keep an eye on items at 'full council' meetings - and on Thursday 25th June, the council convened at the City Chambers and included in their agenda were a few cycling-adjacent items.
📆 Meeting Page | 📺 Webcast | 📑 Motions & Amendments [PDF] | 🙋🏽 Questions & Answers [PDF]
📑 Motions & Amendments
🌳 8.9 by Councillor Osler - Improvements to the Northern Path Network
📄 Motion [PDF]
📺 Webcast from 4:39:37
This Lib Dem motion recognises some recent outbreaks of anti-social behaviour on the North Edinburgh Path Network ('NEPN'), leading to some residents stopping using the path network - and seeks to bring path users and other stakeholders together to talk about their experiences.
"I am fortunate enough to live in a part of Edinburgh where I have access to not only the beautiful Water of Leith pathway, but also the northern path network. I've spent many happy hours wandering from Roseburn to Cramond, Craigleith, Davidsons Mains, Granton, Inverleith, Canonmills, and even down to Leith - all along a pathway. If you've never been there I can highly recommend it. Many of the pathways are extremely busy with folk going about their daily work, running, walking or just generally enjoying themselves.
"There has there been a number of recent outbreaks of antisocial behaviour that has to some users made them feel less safe when using the network or has made them stop using it altogether. This saddens me greatly as it is such a wonderful asset and such a special network, and it should be enjoyed safely by all. So this is why I have brought this motion before you today. I want us to be able to bring people together to talk about their experiences of using the path and explore the common concerns arising across the off-road path network, and potential measures that could be implemented to address them. It is so important that we as a council listen when users tell us there is an issue with safety, and that we reassure them that this is something we take seriously."
— Councillor Hal Osler
An addendum from the SNP [PDF, page 27] - welcomely noted Andy Arthur's recent 'Rails to Trails' deep-dive on the origins and history of the path network, and called for the looping in of the Transport committee on the results of the engagement:
"I am pleased to contribute to this about the safety of the North Edinburgh path network and am grateful to Councillor Osler for tabling it. Ultimately, our amendment is about good stewardship, recognising the value of our treasured public asset and investing in its future, ensuring it continues to safely benefit residents for generations to come. Also noting that this network did not appear overnight, it's a proud and enduring legacy of several previous councils, dedicated officers, community organisations and volunteers who had vision and determination - and let's keep it the remarkable asset that we have today. We wanted to move away from reactive crisis management towards planned preventative maintenance, trying to help keep our network accessible."
— Councillor Vicky Nicolson
In seconding, Cllr Neil Gardiner said:
"Just building on the point that Councillor Nicolson made, I mean New York has got the celebrated 'highline' and we've quietly had our northern railway path network for the last 40 years, and because while it's a good thing that the pathway network is being used more and more by cyclists and pedestrians, there is a degree of conflict there so I think it's important that the reports should also go back to the Transport and Environment Committee."
A Green group addendum [PDF, page 28] included a couple of additional stakeholders on the matter, calling for the Equally Safe Edinburgh Committee and safety campaign group Infrasisters be included, given the recognised inequity of safe travel on these paths:
"What our addendum simply seeks to do is to include a couple of stakeholders who we think have a really valuable and unique perspective, given the importance of ensuring that women and girls in particular feel safe on our path network... And given the research that we've already seen at committee that quite often they do not feel safe, and in particular on the disused railways because of the lack of overlooking, we feel it's vital that Infrasisters and Equally Safe Edinburgh Committee are included.
"I just want to briefly quote from the report that came to committee back in 2024; there's overwhelming evidence to show that violence against women and girls and wider gender inequity of access to public spaces and resources adversely impacts women's and girls' life choices. UK-based research confirms that women's concern for personal safety often precludes them from full and meaningful inclusion in public spaces, further limiting their ability to be involved and activities that would improve their overall physical and mental well-being, support income generation and enhance their overall participation in public life."
The Lib Dems accepted the Green addendum in full, and the majority of the SNP position also, meaning that it passed with no counter-proposals.
🤔 Our Take
The NEPN is a valuable resource; for some folks, they encounter few issues along it and there are many women happy to cycle it, even at night - but it is also true that recently there have been issues with kids laying broken glass traps before pelting halting cyclists with stones, dropping heavy items from bridges, and the usual issues of folk using electric motorcycles or scooters to travel along the path at unsafe speeds.
With that said, the mention of the report needing to come back to TEC due to 'conflict' between users gives us pause - by and large coeexistence between walking, wheeling and cycling users of the path has been manageable for over forty years, and it's important not to overlook that the majority of users are courteous and mindful of others - the same goes for the use of the Water of Leith walkway.
It's important Councillors are able to recognise the difference between the challenges of anti-social behaviour on the network, the ways in which there could be a better equality of access and safety, and sort these real issues from the folks who will complain about cycling use simply due to its existence on these routes.
🛤️ 8.16 by Councillor Booth - Powderhall Rail Line – SNP Manifesto Commitment
📄 Motion [PDF]
📺 Webcast from 5:06:13
"The Powderhall rail line, if that were to be reopened as a walking, wheeling and cycling path, would considerably improve the off-road connectivity for active travel, especially in Leith Walk and Craigentinny/Duddingston Wards. It is listed in the City Mobility Plan Capital Investment Programme, but only insofar as it goes forward with land negotiation.
"I was particularly excited to see the SNP manifesto commitment, and I quote, "that we will support efforts to bring the former Powderhall railway line into use as a new walking and cycling route in the capital". And our motion simply seeks to say, great, put your money where your mouth is."
— Cllr Chas Booth
In seconding the cross-party motion, Lib Dem Cllr Jack Caldwell said:
"Thank you to Councillor Booth, who has done a marathon of work, and Council officers as well, because I appreciate negotiations are always tricky. My hope is that one day the Powderhall railway line can indeed become part of the North Edinburgh Path Network that Councillor Osler spoke so eloquently about earlier. It does mean a lot to the residents in the wards that Councillor Booth mentioned, but actually it is a fundamental part of our city mobility plan as well."
An addendum by the SNP group [PDF, page 38] was introduced by Cllr Amy McNeese-Mechan:
"We're very supportive of Councillor Booth's motion - we're all really keen to see this progress. It's been incredibly frustrating for ward Councillors and residents that negotiations have kind of stalled. So [our addendum] was just an attempt to add to that, and support particularly for some of our ward residents who've been impacted.".
The councillor refers here to the residents of the Blandfield development for whom routine maintenance of a boundary wall has not been possible due to a lack of access, assumedly stymied by Network Rail.
In seconding, Cllr Danny Aston said:
"Thanks to Councillor Caldwell and Councillor Booth for bringing this forward. This is also something that I've been pursuing, I think, more or less since I was elected in 2022 - and it's good to hear Councillor Booth acknowledging that this really is a key project for Craigentinny/Duddingston. I prefer to call it 'Powderhall to Piershill' because it will connect my ward into the North Edinburgh Path Network, which it looks like it's going to continue to retain the Roseburn Path following recent manifesto commitments. Glad to hear Councillor Booth welcoming an SNP manifesto commitment - it is one of many fantastic things in that document! We are seeking to ensure that Network Rail is also doing what they need to do to make this happen."
With a small verbal adjustment (officers to 'explore any opportunities' to assist residents, rather than being over-committed by the wording) and dropping point 2.1 (asking for an urgent status update, which seemingly had already been provided), the motion passed with no counter-propoposal.
🤔 Our Take
We've been a little involve behind the scenes supporting the Powderhall Link campaign and it's great to see a fresh commitment to the project from council groups - any forward momentum or pressure for this to be delivered could prove to be the push that finally gets the project properly rolling.
There appear to be two main hurdles to overcome; the first is that while no trains have run on the line for ten years now, and Network Rail are willing to hand it over, there is still an active leaseholder at the former Powderhall waste management site for a freight site held by rail operator Schenker, who were sold by Deutsche Bahn last year to new owner, global transport and logistics firm DSV.
Depending on how smoothly transfer of Schenker has gone between these parent companies, any prior contact with them about the site could well need to be restarted. The lease runs until 2119 (!) and Schenker will have to agree to give it up in order to release Network Rail from its contractual duty to keep rail lines to the site available - as well as the Council demonstrating to Network Rail that it's taking funding and delivering the project seriously.
The second issue? We don't have any indication from the Council of how projects within the City Mobility Plan are prioritised for delivery (and potentially, brought forward) - this is a fairly new programme, and what was contained within it was only the ongoing negotiations over land.
If this project only scored averagely on the Capital Investment Programme prioritisation exercise, what combination of renewed interest, community campaign and political prodding will bring this route to fruition at last? It surely involves less in the way of Traffic regulation orders, redetermination paperwork and potential objections - the definition of an easy win, once the hurdles are cleared.
🙋🏽 Questions & Answers
Questions are submitted ahead of the meeting and answered on paper by the relevant committee Convener and Council Officers.
🚌 10.2 By Councillor Caldwell - Leith Walk Floating Bus Stop Monitoring
📄 Question & Answer [PDF, page 2]
Following a report in Edinburgh Live about dangers on Leith Walk, Cllr Caldwell tabled a series of questions about Floating Bus Stops.
It's heartening to see from the answers that reported incidents on this busy route have only been as high as two to three per year since July 2023 (with no detail as to whether these were 'near misses' or collisions); as with sharing the off-road paths, the majority of users make the paths, as inadequate as they are in places, work - and so do most pedestrians.
It's important that accessibility concerns are taken into account, and Leith Walk's at-grade cycleway is a problem here too - but it's clear that the 'mini zebra' crossings and affordances built into new project designs like Dundee Street and Craigmillar take care of the majority of potential issues with future bus stop bypasses in the city.
🗳️ 10.4 By Councillor Flannery - Management of TRO Considerations - Community Objections
📄 Question & Answer [PDF, page 5]
An interesting proposition - on the one hand, the question perhaps places too much emphasis on community objections to schemes, as Edinburgh is prone to, given that Officers already dilligently break down objections by theme and category; but on the other, any tweaks to the Traffic Regulation Order sub-committee that make it more robust and predictable in its decision-making could be welcome.
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