Low traffic, high stakes in Edinburgh streets...

Or how Corstorphine traffic calming measures have become divisively controversial

Corstorphine councillors Alan Beal, Euan Davidson and Fiona Bennett

This week, a sub-committee of the City of Edinburgh Council’s Transport and Environment Committee will choose whether to accept the recommendations of council officers and make traffic-calming restrictions in Corstorphine permanent, writes Sarah McArthur.

The changes include restrictions on car access to streets connecting Corstorphine High Street with the busy St John’s Road, some of which are only during peak travel hours, alongside several widened pavements, improved pedestrian crossings, and placemaking measures such as additional seating and planters.

Not too much there to get overheated about, you might think? But despite being apparently mundane, the LTN has ruffled more than a handful of residents steaming with anger in Corstorphine. I went to the north-western suburb to speak with a handful of locals yesterday, and every single person cited “traffic” or “the LTN” as the biggest issue in the area. How did a few road signs and bollards create such a stir?

Local debate turned to “toxic” controversy

Although initial consultation began in 2020, and the conceptual design was approved in 2021, there was little backlash to the Corstorphine Connections LTN until mid-2023, when trial traffic restrictions hit the ground. Local councillor Euan Davidson, who was elected in 2022, said. “It wasn’t something I was particularly aware of during the [election] campaign… it only sort of became a major issue as awareness grew.”

The LTN has somewhat monopolised Davidson’s time; be it at his surgeries, door-to-door chats or in his email inbox. He says “hundreds” of people complain about the LTN. He and his fellow councillors (two other Lib Dems) conducted an extensive survey, going door-to-door within and outside the LTN area, to understand the issue better.

In 2023, a campaign group, Accessible Corstorphine for Everyone (ACE) was formed on the single issue of opposing the LTN. The group recently raised £5000 for a professional opinion on the legality of the LTN in just 24 hours. Another, older group, Low Traffic Corstorphine (LTC), has been advocating for active travel in the area since before Corstorphine Connections was conceived of. A head on collision was inevitable it seems.

Both groups argue that they have been bullied and harassed by the other. “It has been incredibly toxic for people on both sides” says Cllr Davidson. One local, who “doesn’t mind whether the LTN is made permanent or not,” said she wasn’t comfortable sharing even this neutral stance.

While local debate is to be expected, the repeated vandalism of the LTN infrastructure is more shocking. The camera controlling a bus gate on Manse Road had its wires snipped once and was cut down twice during the 18-month trial.