Leith Walk is “good enough” to walk or ride as a family with kids. Could it be better? Yes. But we have to remember that half of the problems were caused by interference from councillors and supposed “walking campaign” groups

Too many cyclists show discourtesy to pedestrians at Leith Walk bus stops. But let's not pretend they pose an extraordinary danger - drivers injured 240 Edinburgh pedestrians and cyclists in 2024 alone.

There is a lot of chat about the danger posed by the introduction of cycle lanes and floating bus stops on Leith Walk from 2021 onward. Pedestrian casualties, Leith Walk, by year: 2015: 15 2016: 13 2017: 9 2018: 10 2019: 12 (including two fatalities) 2020: 3 2021: 0 2022: 2 2023: 0 2024: 2

“It is especially galling that it was Labour, LibDems & Conservative councillors who led us down this garden path in the first place, delaying action to implement the Quiet Route permanently in 2023 and introducing years of uncertainty in the estate… [it]demonstrates a complete lack of leadership”

“Fast” in geological terms?

Calling protected bike-lanes “vanity projects” should be automatic evidence that a political candidate has no idea what they’re talking about when it comes to public safety, urban mobility and congestion, geometry and urban space, fiscal responsibility, or the successful positioning of cities.

Tomorrow, Edinburgh council will decide whether to tear up a quiet route for pedestrians, wheelchairs and cyclists which has been in place for five years- why? Read below www.edinburghinquirer.co.uk/p/low-traffi... @edi.bike @spokes.org.uk

Is it weird that I find the man dressed as a giant bird heartwarming, while wanting the man taking a selfie to be drummed out of public life?

Without a doubt, this MUST come back to the Transport Committee and not just be thrown away by TRO Sub. We cannot lose miles of safe route to paperwork incompetence. The south of the city has too little else for safe cycling.

As we write in the book, we need less focus on adults who scream "I've lived in the city for the last 50 years and don't need bike lanes" and more focus on kids who say "I am going to live in the city for the *next* 50 years and want to be able to get around safely."

For the first time ever I have made it to a local public meeting by a cycle lane sceptic group about “the case for a pause” to a planned lane to a school which had been years in the planning. They are not, repeat *not* against cycling, it’s just this one particular design is flawed, obvs.

Heard that Hearts goal in Corstorphine!

Tweet (Jenrick) exemplifies universal misunderstanding ONS population projection involved no analysis of current/future immigration policy! Just plugs in single historic datapoint (2013-19 average+2025) for 2027-2050 ONS will update later once facts change (230k inflow much too high for 2027+28)

Excellent write-up of the Braid Estate debacle 🧵 Edinburgh’s Transport Ctte calls for permanent Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route; opponents pressure Council Officers into removing filters anyway Capitulation to loud motoring minority as ‘incorrectly worded’ legal order … edi.bike/articles/202...

There must be some overriding principle that says that the safety of 1000s of kids & their parents/carers takes precedent over the whims of 2 privileged lawyers that live on Midmar Gardens??? UN rights of the child? - The right to life? The right to be heard? All enshrined into Scottish law

00:45 - article on the quiet route debacle finished (edi.bike/articles/202...) ...now for the other 24 items in this newsletter 😅🫠

We’re currently speechless about the likely loss of a safe route for kids in the Braid Estate When the affluent few can pay a lawyer to find the slightest discrepancy in the paperwork, to kill off a scheme put in place through community action, that is NOT DEMOCRACY!

...but these filters are also apparently 'interdependent' so Officers also propose to pull out the one at Braid Rd for good measure, just to make totally sure my 6yo and 8yo have to contend with as much traffic as possible on our previously quiet route into the city. Pathetic, useless nonsense.

Good news everyone, we don't need to worry about the Greenbank to Meadows modal filters in the Braid Estate any more, because officers managed to describe them wrongly in the traffic orders so they have to be removed anyway. HOW CONVENIENT. media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2l...

Are council officers capitulating to the interests of a minority group that didn't even bother to give deputation at Transport Committee, subverting a democratic decision? Because the minority group seem to think so. @stephenjenkinson.bsky.social @dastonsnp.bsky.social @chasbooth.bsky.social

Congratulations to Edinburgh Council for once again screwing up paperwork meaning that a safe cycle route for kids going to school will be removed. democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s9...

Nothing more dispiriting than reading all the mental objections to bike lanes. Pages and pages of nonsense like this. Council officers should just be allowed to to say: “bollocks, completely made up, ignore”

An expert opinion that the scam reported by the BBC wouldn’t work, and so was a scam on applicants not the system, seems like important context

IF YOU BUILD A BIKE LANE THAT DOESN'T CONNECT TO ANOTHER BIKE LANE THEN YOU DIDN'T BUILD A BIKE LANE

I don't deny that dogs can sometimes be quite lovely but what I will say is I don't trust their opinions. If a cat recommended me an album it had bought, I'd totally check it out. If a dog did the same, I'd promise to listen to the album, out of politeness, with no intention of actually doing so

When a USAID whistleblower told Trump people that it'd be hard to pull together accurate info on Malaria since DOGE had turned off access to the whole team who worked on that issue, one of the guys shouted “See, this is why, just because it might work at Twitter does not mean you can do it here!”

NEW—I got an exclusive excerpt from a USAID whistleblower's new book that made me gasp multiple times. It details Trump's dismantling of the humanitarian aid agency & his team/DOGE's shocking ignorance to public health. 'Into the Wood Chipper' by Nicholas Enrich is out tomorrow. Read excerpt here:

It won't come as a surprise to many, but good to see The Times pointing out that people actually like less traffic in local neighbourhoods. It concludes that no big change is ever introduced without some initial opposition - so leaders should stick to their guns! www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Today, the transport committee made a big decision about the future of the Quiet Route I’m pleased that we are finally (!) seeing progress which will (hopefully) see the retention of the route with all active travel measures intact 🚲🌳🚶 Read more on my blog 📝: open.substack.com/pub/cllrbenp...

✊ Transport committee votes for Greenbank to Meadows quiet route permanence (‘Option C’) 🥳 Still to be ratified at TRO Sub-committee in June (dare they try it on?) but a significant win for one of the few measures supporting active travel in South Edinburgh. 🚲💕

Can confirm. It's still not street width, topography, helmets, presumed liability or weather. It still *is* careful network-level planning against a nationally, regionally and locally agreed framework and of course investment in transport in its widest sense and especially the public realm.

Golden retriever runs 15 feet after owner mimes throwing tennis ball

Banning drugs doesn’t reduce drug use at all and actually increases drug harms

No please, tell me again about the very real and principled local objections that it is so important our planning system accommodate at the expense of everything else

Sally Pattie, please report for your reeducation - can’t be saying things like this if you want to be a LibDem MSP. (EEN report on the Spokes hustings: edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/councils-…)

The Glebe BIA had a report done about the area. We think this image perfectly encapsulates the reason for hesitancy by the business owners to get rid of parking. While 86% of the respondents who come to shop said they get there by means other than driving, 94% of the owners said they drove.

"We have already destroyed 100% of the Normans’ military capability, but it’s easy for them to shoot a close-range arrow somewhere along, or in, this Battlefield, no matter how badly defeated they are.”

It includes this incredible nugget "The A9 Dualling Programme demonstrates a BCR [Benefit-Cost Ratio] of 0.52 that rises to 0.81, when including Driver Frustration and Wider Economic Impacts, which equates to Low Value for Money."

Given the recent announcements about the A9 dualling, I had a quick dig to see if a revised Outline Business Case had been published. Nothing recent that I can see, but I did spot a November 2023 version, released under an FoI request that I haven't seen before.

Like we have been told to insure and forget the climate change- finally it has gotten expensive in Florida - people are moving out!

Over a week ago, in the FT, the *shipping* guys were saying "it's not just insurance. We just don't actually want our ships blown up."

In light of this decision my Transport & Environment Committee will now have to revisit the vote taken on the Braids Estate LTN. www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/two-edi...

Bookmarking this until 2036.

Oh hey, it's a Very Fucked Paper. See the pubpeer thread, it's a fun one: pubpeer.com/publications...

It's important to note that both Councillors cooperated fully with the Standards Commission. It's also important to note that there are a lot of Councillors who manage to _not_ get pulled up by the Standards Commission for their conduct.

⚠️ Today, Standards Commission hearing (Councillors Neil Ross & Marie-Clair Munro) found both had breached the Councillor code of conduct for failing to declare they lived by the Braid Estate when dealing w/ Greenbank to Meadows Quiet Route, including their votes to remove effective traffic filtering

This demonstrates that the vote to rip out the modal filters and other active travel measures in the Braid estate was not only unjustifiable, but also arrived at by a tainted process which must now surely be revisited.

Are the "congestion-causing" bike lanes in the room with us right now? 🔮 🫠

Ok, so in the space of 2 minutes I’ve witnessed: 1 - two drivers having a punch up in the middle of the road at Drumbrae roundabout. 🥊 2- a driver again speeding through a red light at the pedestrian crossing there. 🚦 #RoadRage