Those of you in Edinburgh are no doubt aware of the temporary measures the council have put in place to support pedestrians and cyclists post-lockdown. The backlash against this from some local businesses has been nothing short of absurd, last week there was an Evening News article describing the changes as a “warzone” and “genocide”, which was all very tasteful with one of the owners in question posing for his photo opp at the spot a pedestrian child was knocked over and killed by a car last month.
The latest is a petition doing the rounds from local businesses calling on the council to reverse the changes, with all sorts of nonsense such as the fact it would stop deliveries (despite the fact that loading bays remain), stop disabled access (despite the fact disabled bays remain) and reduce footfall (despite the fact that most of the businesses in question appear to be small local businesses who I would assume rely primarily on local pedestrian footfall, and have not provided any evidence to the contrary).

Anyway, I created a counter petition to show support for these changes and call on the council to consider more permanent changes rather than the current sticking plaster. All support appreciated https://www.change.org/p/edinburgh-city-council-promote-active-travel-in-edinburgh-make-parking-removal-permanent

signed

Signed

Signed Doug.

Signed and shared on Facebook

The fundamental issue with all of these proposals is that Edinburgh Council have done very little in the way of consultation to address the concerns of businesses and residents. This doesn’t mean changing the proposals, it means explaining them and ensuring everyone understand what will be done and why.
I’ve seen similar backlash against segregated cycle lanes on Facebook.

I think it is legitimate for businesses in Morningside, Bruntsfield and Stockbridge to ask how their customers will get to them. They pull in people from a wider area than walking distance. Lots of people got the bus to these areas previously. Allowing for a load more cars instead of people getting the bus is not going to be the answer. Unfortunately I think businesses will need to adapt

Signed.

Done.

The fundamental issue with all of these proposals is that Edinburgh Council have done very little in the way of consultation to address the concerns of businesses and residents. This doesn’t mean changing the proposals, it means explaining them and ensuring everyone understand what will be done and why.

Yes perhaps, hence why this is now playing out through petitions rather than consultation.

I think it is legitimate for businesses in Morningside, Bruntsfield and Stockbridge to ask how their customers will get to them. They pull in people from a wider area than walking distance.

Questioning it is one thing, going in the local paper throwing round words like genocide is an overreaction.
In some cases yes I can understand they pull in a wider audience, though none of the business have actually evidenced this, and some of the claims that many people travel by car to the likes of a greeting card shop seem laughable. Regardless, in the case of somewhere like bruntsfield the majority of parking is on side streets and been left untouched so I’m struggling to see the issue with removing a small amount of pay and display on the main road.

Signed.

Classic knee jerking from the businesses. I’ve tried to engage a few individuals on FB by posting research that shows the impact is likely to be small and actually positive in the long term.

Do they read them? :rollseyes:

I can see both sides.
It is a good thing to have segregated facilities, but, on the other hand, a lack of parking for cars will damage some businesses.
Here in Leics., the local council decided to stop charging for the shoppers car park during lockdown.
There are around 20 free parking spaces on the road, then a 2 minute walk to 100 places in the car park.
Now, they have blocked off all on street parking, and re introduced car parking charges.
The newsagent on the main corner has seen his income drop by over 50% he says.
No one is stopping in the free places outside his shop in the morning to buy their paper/fags/sandwiches, as they are blocked off. I can see why, they dont want to pay the fee, dont want to walk 2 minutes to the shop, and are on their way to work, so like the convenience of parking outside, in and out in a minute.
He is seething. And to be fair, the blocking off of the parking spaces isnt really helping in any distancing measures, as the pavement is wide enough there anyway.

Done

Classic knee jerking from the businesses. I’ve tried to engage a few individuals on FB by posting research that shows the impact is likely to be small and actually positive in the long term.
Do they read them?

No, I started to get dragged into a Twitter spat with one last night but quickly stopped as it became obvious there was little interest in debate, only pro-car vitriol.