Tuesday May 13th 2025
Cockburn Street's traffic ban in effect during certain times of day has been made permanent.
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
Traffic bans on several city centre streets are to be made permanent after being trialled over the past year and a half.
During Covid, the council rolled out many impromptu changes to Edinburgh’s road network to promote cycling and walking.
Many of these changes were later formally trialled through Experimental Traffic Regulation Orders, which allow the council to amend how streets work.
The trial, which remains in effect until 18 August of this year, involved a ban on most or all road traffic on Cockburn Street, part of High Street, Victoria Street and West Bow, as well as on part of Waverley Bridge.
It also introduced waiting restrictions on Cockburn Street, Victoria Street, West Bow and Waverley Bridge, with the Waverley Bridge restrictions being in effect 24 hours per day.
At a meeting of the Traffic Regulation Orders subcommittee on Monday, councillors agreed to make the changes permanent.
Officers also asked councillors to make trial measures to the east of the city centre, which expire in October, permanent.
The changes were tried on London Road and along the A1 corridor, on Duddingston Road, Duddingston Road West, King’s Place, Seafield Street, Seafield Road East, Hope Lane and Stanley Street.
However, councillors chose to defer that decision until a later meeting, in part due to uncertainty over how quickly permanent infrastructure can be built.
Liberal Democrat councillor Kevin Lang said his personal support for deferring the decision came due to safety risks, as he said some people had tripped on the temporary infrastructure in place, causing them to be injured.
Councillors also considered a range of minor amendments to parking rules in parts of the city.
The officers recommendation, which was to take up all of the proposed changes minus the loss of one parking space on Eildon Terrace, was approved by the sub-committee.
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