Reclaiming the streets

Reclaiming the Streets of Porty – How do we reduce traffic in Portobello and make in cleaner and greener?

14:00 – 16:00 Sunday 21^th November 2021

Bellfield Large Hall

Spokes Porty (SP) & Porty Community Energy (PCE) co-hosted this conversation. There were 20 people present.

We started with two opening speeches ‘What if….reimagining a different Porty, with less traffic, safer and cleaner/greener’ about how we would love Porty to be in terms of transport and moving about (by James (SP) and Ellen (PCE))

We then had two 5 min speeches. One by Mike Livesley, whose family gave up their car and bought an electric cargo bike for moving about town. And another by Alex from Farr-out bikes, who use E-cargo bikes for delivery around Edinburgh. They can be hired by businesses or individuals.

We then split into 3 discussion groups, with the idea of ‘from what if (we want a reduction in traffic) to what next’:

Next steps to change personal habits
Next steps to change business habits
Infrastructure, what if, what next

Summary Discussion – Next steps to change Personal habits

Three Categories of action (some straddle two categories):

1) Personal support

Adult cycle confidence club/training – including sessions targeted at women
Bike buddy scheme to help people find and get confident to cycle everyday routes
Make connections with and between local cycle clubs to help them recruit new members
Mass cycles to e.g. ASDA/Fort

Share helpful and honest stories about living without a car/using bike instead of car

2) Reminders

Local signage for bike contra flows
Better signage for cycle routes
Cycle/active travel reminders on entry to Porty (signs King’s Road, Railway bridge and Eastfield)
Pedal on Porty (monthly?)
Own traffic lights for cyclists

3) Campaigning for infrastructure/training change

Mandatory classes for car and bus drivers on how to drive cycle-friendly, e.g. with MOT/classes for drivers with points on their license
Gather evidence from other councils on how they build infrastructure, e.g. EV charging points in Musselburgh
Practical suggestions to councillors and provide them with evidence/data for change
Close roads for cars on Sundays/all weekend

Summary Discussion – Next steps to change business habits

We split the discussion into 3 sections (as per Heart Talk Porty Guide under ‘What’s next’)

What needs to happen first

Infrastructure changes, including:
- Parking for EVs and Ebikes (also shared facilities)
- Charging infrastructure
- Cycle infrastructure, including bike lanes
Staffing for e-bike deliveries
- Tend to be younger and fitter (students)
- Need to be able to work in all weathers
- Want to feel safe on the roads
Affordability of e-bikes
- Safe and available storage
- Grants
- E-bike delivery can be more expensive than standard, could it be made cheaper?

What else is needed

Support for CPZ, so there is room for storage of EVs and ebikes
Limited delivery times (eg between 4-7am) but this can clash with local residents’ wishes.
More incentivisation to change, grants, loans, publicity thereof, more inclusion (eg new businesses currently excluded from some grants)

Who is doing what?

Businesses:
- Need to invest in new EVs/ e-bikes
- Need to lobby council for infrastructure
- Need to manage expectations as to how far and how quick hot food can be delivered when using e-bikes
- May need to absorb some of the extra costs when e-bikes or EVs are used
- Preference often given to EVs but cargo bikes can sometimes carry more, are more environmentally friendly (lower carbon footprint), and cause less congestion
Customers
- Only buy where sustainable
- ‘Green business award’ so customers know where to buy – something for PCE to set up? – Farr-out publish the names of businesses that use them.
- Be more critical of businesses
Council
- Public consultations do not always work – the outcome of the consultation may be different from the final outcome, and this creates friction (but: a consultation is not a referendum)
- Processes often slow (TRO/ETRO)
- Can focus groups and local interest groups bridge the gap? Can council use these more to come up with workable solutions instead of consultations?

Summary Discussion – Infrastructure: what if, what next.

Ideas that the group was interested in:

Bus gate/traffic gate either in the centre of Portobello (on the High street, either side of the central traffic lights, or further out) – to encourage through traffic to use Harry Lauder Road and Milton Road East/A199
Create a low traffic neighbourhood, bounded by Harry Lauder Road and Milton Road East
A Park and Ride with shuttle bus, for example at Seafield
More frequent buses and more bus routes around Edinburgh rather than only into Edinburgh
Safer cycle routes / more cycle paths including an alternative to the Prom cycle route
Marked lanes on the Prom for pedestrians and cyclists
Car club improvements
Opening the train station, having frequent enough trains including links with Edinburgh/North Berwick route and the Borders route7
Tweaking traffic lights, including making them more responsive to pedestrians/change quickly
Route pricing to make it more expensive to come through High Street than Harry Lauder Road

What next?

Need to create a Portobello transport lobby / action group which has wider representation (eg disabled people, car users, active travellers, cycle groups, etc etc) – facilitated by a constituted group(s)
Have more public engagement /an event – including engagement with Cllrs and Cllr candidates in lead up to elections next year, invite people who have been successful in creating low traffic neighbourhoods/green transport initiatives elsewhere (such as Walthamstow) and different interest groups
Develop plans for a Porty Low Traffic Neighbourhood bounded by Harry Lauder Road and Milton Road East
Gather more data on traffic and travel in the area – eg a more detailed wider traffic survey, options for creating a low traffic neighbourhood.
Lobby for some quick actions that do not require a lot of money – eg traffic light tweaking