Have your say on Edinburgh’s transport policy

Want to have your say on city transport? A six-week public consultation starts today (Monday 4 February 2013) as part of the development of a new transport strategy for Edinburgh.

For the past five years, the Council’s transport projects, network maintenance and service provision have been guided by the Local Transport Strategy (LTS) 2007-2012, now extended to the end of 2013. Work has already begun to draw up a new five year policy document, an LTS for 2014 – 2019. This document will go through a number of stages before being finalised at the end of 2013.

The public consultation being launched today seeks residents’ views on 10 key transport Issues for Review, including a proposal to introduce parking charges on Sunday and options to reduce speed limits in residential streets to 20mph.

The Issues for Review report is the first stage in the preparation of the LTS. Its purpose is to seek views on the issues where change is needed, or the Council faces a significant choice in future direction.

Many of the policies and objectives in the current LTS are still valid and these will simply be continued or updated for the next LTS. There will be a chance to give feedback on those in a further consultation process later in 2013.

Councillor Lesley Hinds, Transport Convener, urged as many people as possible to take part in the consultation.  She said: “Whether you’re a public transport user, a motorist, a cyclist or a pedestrian – or perhaps you might even be all of these things, depending on the journey – we want to hear what residents and businesses in Edinburgh think about the transport issues in this consultation.

“It’s vital for us to gather as many different points of view as we can so that we can be sure that the final Local Transport Strategy 2014-2019 document accurately reflects the City’s priorities for the next five years.”

People can respond to this consultation using the questionnaire available online at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BPRZ5QK

Printed questionnaires are also available from libraries, or on request from: localtransportstrategy@edinburgh.gov.uk

Completed printed questionnaires can be returned to our Freepost address:

FREEPOST – RTCH – JJEK – TCCZ
Local Transport Strategy
City of Edinburgh Council
Waverley Court (C.2)
4 East Market Street
Edinburgh
EH8 8BG

A public drop-in session will also be held on Thursday 6 March at Edinburgh Central Library on George IV Bridge from 9am – 8pm.

The consultation closes on Sunday 17 March 2013.