Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route

Call to action – Engagement exercise – deadline TBA

New traffic orders (ETRO) are to be produced in September 2023. They will automatically trigger a new consultation lasting 6 months, to which you are encouraged to respond.

Please refer to our retaining “travelling safely” measures page for more info on how to take part in the consultation

The council have opened an “engagement exercise” around various active travel schemes across the city. Locally, this includes the Greenbank-Meadows Quiet Route (as well as schemes on Comiston Road and Braid Road). Our Retaining Spaces for People page explains more about the engagement exercise and traffic regulation orders which govern the routes. We encourage your participation in the engagement exercise, please click here for more info.

Friends of the Quiet Route

The Friends of the Quiet Route are a volunteer-led community group whose aim is to promote safe walking and cycling along the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route

There’s lots of information on how to get involved as well as a history of the route

Updates:

Low-traffic schemes [including ‘quiet routes’] halve number of road injuries, study shows

Road injuries halved in low-traffic neighbourhoods installed during the coronavirus pandemic when compared against areas without the schemes, a new study has found.

The improvement in safety is more than twice that created by 20mph urban speed limits.

The research, which examined police data on casualties for 72 low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) put in place in London between March and September last year, also showed no apparent increase in danger on roads at their outer boundaries.

The greatest reduction in injuries was among pedestrians and people in cars, with a modest effect for cyclists

Please write to your councillors and let them know about any positive experiences you have using the route. Let them know why the route is important to you, and how you’ve used the route recently. Or share anecdotes of others using the route.

A list of Morningside ward councillors can be found at the bottom of this page

Pictures and videos would be great too and can be sent to councillors and shared via Twitter, tag in @blackfordsafer1

Update 22nd May 2021:

The Spaces for People team have issued an update on the southern section of the Quiet Route (Braid Rd, Midmar, Hermitage, Cluny area)

Headlines:

  • The level of traffic in the area has seen a dramatic reduction of 74% compared to the pre-covid baseline. In 2018, levels of traffic at the Braid Road / Braidburn Terrace junction exceeded 9,000 vehicles-per-day (vpd). In the latest counts this figure was 2,308 vpd.
  • Longer term, the current levels of cycling in the area are notably higher (approx. 70% higher against a 2018 baseline) than levels during Spring in previous years.
  • Levels of pedestrian use remain high on Braid Road
Update 19th April 2021:

The southern section of the Quiet Route, covering the Clunys, Midmar and Braid Rd, has now been implemented. See updated infographic map below.

Update 24th Feb 2021:

A major new consultation has opened which finds the City of Edinburgh Council seeking views on whether the Spaces for People improvements, for walking, wheeling and cycling made during the COVID pandemic should be kept longer term. Call to action to retain the Quiet Route.

Edinburgh Reporter article on launch day

Update 13th Nov 2020:

The Quiet Route was discussed at the Transport and Environment Committee (TEC) on Thurs 12th November under the “Spaces for People Update” agenda item (item 7.6). A webcast of the discussion is available here.

Transport convenor Cllr Lesley Macinnes gave a hearty commendation to Blackford Safe Routes and the work put in by the team. Ward councillors Melanie Main (Green), Neil Ross (Lib dem) and Mandy Watt (Labour) spoke about the route and the common theme was there is a lot of support for it from the community. (We will provide transcripts once available).

Written deputations (relevant to the Quiet Route) were submitted by Blackford Safe Routes, the Liberal Democrat Citizens Team, and Daniel Johnson MSP. The results of Daniel Johnson’s and Ian Murray’s survey were made available.

After discussions completed, Cllr Susan Webber (Conservative, Pentlands ward) used a “technicality”* to refer the voting on the Quiet Route (and the other new Spaces for People proposals) to the “Full Council” meeting. This likely means a delay of 4 to 5 weeks.

*The procedure of referring to Full Council is normally only used for very large infrastructure projects e.g. Tram.

Update 8th Nov 2020:

The Council will be discussing and potentially approving the Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route at the Transport and Environment Committee (TEC) on Thurs 12th November. Therefore, it’s even more important to urgently write to your councillors and the Spaces for People team, to register your support.

The route has been modified slightly, with the removal of the filters at the Cluny / Morningside end and the addition of a filter on Whitehouse Loan north of Warrender Park Road. See updated map below.

The council are proposing a “quiet route” connecting Greenbank to the Meadows as part of Spaces for People (SfP) programme. Spaces for People are the series of temporary and trial measures being put in place to aid social distancing and enable active travel (non-motorised journeys). As lockdown has demonstrated, people feel safe to walk, wheel and cycle when motor traffic is reduced. Local drivers have greater incentive to drive slowly and safely in their own neighbourhood compared to those from outwith.

Today, road traffic collisions are the number-one cause of death and serious injury to young people aged 5 to 30 and air pollution adds to the toll. Tomorrow, climate breakdown will be the greatest issue our children will face. We owe it to our children, our nieces and nephews, and their future children, to do everything in our power to implement these changes

The graphic above shows the proposals, summarised as follows:

  • open up a route to walking, wheeling and cycling by reducing motor traffic to “local access only” along the Whitehouse Loan, Canaan Lane and Braid Avenue corridor
  • through-motor-traffic (rat-running) is removed from most of the streets along the route by means of planters and bollards, forming strategic closures to through-motor-traffic
  • access to all properties by car is retained
  • the route forms an important connection between the new segregated cycle lanes on Comiston Rd and the offroad cycle network at the Meadows
  • the route forms an important route to and from the local schools in the area

It is important to show support for this progressive and enabling scheme, as there is likely to be some “backlash” from those who don’t want change or from those who live outwith the area, yet habitually drive through it.

Please email your councillors to support the scheme (Morningside, ward 10). You are strongly encouraged to write your own personal letter of support, as this carries the greatest weight. You may use any or all of the points in the template letter below and modify as you wish. Please include personal reasons for your support if applicable, as this adds weight to the support. You will need to add your name, address and postcode at the end of the letter. (Councillors are not allowed to respond to anonymous, or out-of-ward constituents.)

Dear Councillors Main, Ross, Cook and Watt,

I am writing to support the Council’s proposed Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route scheme, as part of the Spaces for People programme.

The proposed walking, wheeling and cycling route is important to me for the following reasons:

  • allows more opportunities for neighbours and children to socialise and take part in unstructured play
  • quieter, more pleasant streets
  • safer means for children to get to school
  • opportunities for placemaking, planters, benches, street trees and greenery
  • easier to maintain social-distancing
  • clean air
  • less isolation, more sociable streets
  • an active and healthier population
  • reduction in households exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution
  • supports tackling the obesity crisis
  • reduces traffic danger at source
  • helps reduce short journeys by car that could easily be walked or cycled given safe and pleasant conditions
  • reduces climate-breakdown causing emissions
  • discourages drivers with no “social contract” to the area and the people who live there (local residents have greater reason to drive carefully).

Today, road traffic collisions are the number-one cause of death and serious injury to young people aged 5 to 30 and air pollution adds to the toll. Tomorrow, climate breakdown will be the greatest issue our children will face. We owe it to our children, our nieces and nephews, and their future children, to do everything in our power to implement these changes.

Meanwhile, experience from the rest of the UK has shown that residents love their low-traffic neighbourhoods, and once installed, residents never call for them to be reversed.

Please could you contact the Transport Committee councillors and other relevant or interested councillors to register my support to this scheme.

Yours sincerely,

[Your full name]
[Your address]

You can email your Morningside Ward councillors directly at the following email addresses:

Also, support can be emailed to the Spaces for People team at:

You may also wish to write to your constituency MSP (for local issues):

Or you can use https://www.writetothem.com/

Update: The results of Daniel Johnson MSP & Ian Murray MP’s surveys are available. Original survey link.