Phase 2 Parking Controls put ‘on hold’ for now

At Thursday’s meeting of the City of Edinburgh Council’s Transport and Environment Committee, after much discussion, a vote was taken to defer action on parking controls for the areas included in Phase 2 (which includes our area, still confusingly called ‘West Leith’ i.e. Lochend and Ryehill) until autumn 2022. There will be further consultation with local communities in the meanwhile.

The main reasons for deferring were  (1) the very high level of objections from local residents – roughly 75%, even higher in West Leith, and (2) waiting to see the effects of the Phase 1 parking controls – which WILL be coming in on Leith Walk and across Leith – in terms of parking migration, and (3) whether working patterns and parking demands may change, post pandemic..

The main argument for pressing ahead with the legal enablement of Phase 2 parking controls (TROs) had been that there will inevitably be ‘migration’ of parking into Easter Road and the Leith Links area as the Phase 1 parking controls in Leith  / Leith Walk start to bite. Residents may change their minds then, but getting the TROs in place is a lengthy process, so Council officers thought it would be better to get it done early.

You can watch the Committee discussions here (Item 7b on the agenda, starts at 3:42:29