Tuesday October 24th 2023
Lothian Street Bonnyrigg.
Parking will be banned on a residential street which has been described as a ‘key route’ for buses after complaints it was disrupting timetables.
Lothian Street, in Bonnyrigg was described as an ‘important corridor for buses’ at a meeting of Midlothian Council’s cabinet today.
It was claimed vehicles parking on the road were making it difficult to drive through with one councillor saying he ‘took his life in his hands’ every time he travelled on it.
The meeting heard that there had been nine responses to a consultation over the plans with none of them supporting the proposals.
However the administration cabinet approved officers recommendation to ‘repel objections and implement the scheme as advertised’ backing plans to paint an additional 655 metres of double yellow lines along the road on both sides.
Officers said there was evidence of previous impacts on the local community due to restricted access for emergency vehicles and running times for bus services.
They added sight lines for pedestrian to cross the busy road in some sections were also impacted by parked cars.
Derek Oliver, the council’s chief officer place, said: “Lothian Street is a key link in Midlothian’s road network. It forms part of the main route between Bonnyrigg and Dalkeith and the east bound city bypass and is an important corridor for bus services.
“The character of this road between its junctions with High Street and Eldindean Road is such that traffic movement, and especially bus services, are regularly impeded.”
Councillor Dianne Alexander told the meeting that she backed the introduction of the double yellow lines adding: “Being a regular driver on that road, it is quite dangerous at times and quite scary when you have to go through narrow spaces.
“I admire our bus drivers who manage to do that, they must be very patients to travel up there in the time it takes to do so.”
And Councillor Connor McManus added: “I travel on Lothian Street and take my life in my own hands every day. This road might not be considered a main road but it is very much used as one.”
Councillor Kelly Parry said the issues on Lothian Street had been going on for a long time and also backed the proposals to push ahead with the introduction of double yellow lines.
Councillors also agreed to additional double yellow lines at Croft Street, in Penicuik, after a public consultation with claims local residents “fear if there was fire in their home that the fire service would have significant difficulty in gaining access”.
The aim is to implement this by early 2024. The paper presented to the Council’s Cabinet meeting can be read HERE.
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