IT IS dubbed the Scottish capital's "cycle superhighway" and is the most ambitious bike route in the city, linking Leith in the east to Roseburn in the west.
However, plans for the £5.5m scheme - revised from an original £9m - which were designed to create a healthy alternative for commuters have led two groups of residents to pitch against each other in a battle over which route the pathway should take.
While some residents and businesses have campaigned for a less direct route called Option B through the Roseburn area others have backed Option A, a route with fewer road crossings - a factor which it is claimed would deter many cyclists from using the pathway.
Read more: John Swinney under fire as pupils fail to meet primary literacy and numeracy goals
Dozens of business owners earlier appealed to Edinburgh City Council, which will make a decision on the plans this Friday, claiming a pathway alongside their firms would have a “hugely detrimental" impact on trade.
The council said its traffic modelling predicts only a “modest impact” on traffic flow and that traders in Roseburn Terrace will not lose any parking bays in the immediate vicinity of their shops.
The council's consultation on the pathway, that would be largely protected from traffic cuts across the city along the west end and through George Street, found 1,768 - 66 per cent - were in support of the scheme while 900 - 34 per cent - were in opposition.
The council said in its report to be considered this week that "Option A delivers a better cycle route and overall a more people-friendly street environment in Roseburn Terrace.
"However Option B still delivers a workable cycle route and improved conditions for pedestrians in Roseburn, whilst addressing more fully local business concerns around loading and probably reducing the risk of additional congestion on the A8.
Read more: John Swinney under fire as pupils fail to meet primary literacy and numeracy goals
"Under either Option A or Option B there is scope to further review parking and loading serving Roseburn Terrace during the detailed design process in consultation with local businesses and residents."
Peter Gregson, of the Roseburn Vision group, claimed it has conducted a survey which showed few new users would be attracted to the cyclepath.
He said: "There are better ways to boost cycling, and ones that don’t remove 40 per cent of parking and loading from local shops, either.
“We think the council is embarking on a disaster that will throttle the city, and that few will ever use.
"We call on residents to persuade politicians to vote against it on Friday.”
However, the Roseburn Cycle Route group has challenged its findings, and said: "The results of the Roseburn Vision group survey should be treated with caution.
"This is not about arguments for or against the East-West route.
"The survey has been promoted with campaigners going door-to-door to get responses in Murrayfield and Roseburn.
"People from elsewhere in the city are likely to be under-represented."
Read more: John Swinney under fire as pupils fail to meet primary literacy and numeracy goals
The project got the go-ahead from the transport and environment committee in August, but a new group involving interested parties had to be set up to help decide the final route.
The meeting is a special public session of the future transport working group in the City Chambers where Paul Lawrence, the council's director of place, will make the decision under delegated authority - granted by the committee in August.
The council said either way the scheme will then move to the detailed design stage.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel