Dear Councillor Macinnes

We acknowledge receipt of the email below and the attached map indicating that there are proposed Covid-19 Emergency Road Measures for Easter Road and Great Junction Street. However, we await a further Council email explaining exactly what is proposed, as all we have received is a map with a few red lines, no legend and no site-specific details. We don’t really understand how we are supposed to respond this, as it adds nothing to what was in the outline proposals approved on 14 May. Has no further detailed planning been done in the intervening five weeks?

We are being told that there is no time for normal expectations associated with consultations and are asked if we want to raise any issues.

The main issue we have is with the absence of a credible process: I am sure everyone on the extensive (GDPR-compliant?) mailing list below is a very busy person and may not be able to respond within the given timescale to potentially very complex proposals (let alone understand them in the absence of concrete details) with all their knock-on effects into neighbouring streets and on a wide variety of legitimate (and sometimes vulnerable) users. Where do the proposals go, if the physical distancing guidance is reduced to 1m in early July, as flagged up by the First Minister last week? Will a rushed implementation of measures which – if well-planned and consulted upon may well have merit – not undermine wider public support for a more pedestrian-friendly environment in the longer term?

With this qualification, we make the following observations. Continue reading →