Tag: Leith Links area

Warning for pet owners!

There will be a fireworks display from Royal Yacht Britannia on Tuesday 17th March at 10pm, lasting around 3 minutes.

Leith Links Community Council (supported by all of our local Councillors) is vigorously contesting the loss of bus services to the north side of Leith Links since we heard that the 12 is to be stopped and only partially replaced by the No 1.

So far, at our request, the Convener of the Transport Committee set up a meeting between City of Edinburgh Council Transport officials and Lothian Buses – at which Councillor Adam McVey was present, also someone from MSP Ben MacPherson’s office – to ‘go through the issues’. Currently Lothian Buses have been asked to find a solution and Council officials have been ‘tasked with helping to facilitate any changes necessary to help enable a change’.

We are hoping to hear soon about another meeting with news about possible solutions. We will keep you posted!

The current situation is that, as of 29th March, the 12 will not run beyond George Street. To partially replace the 12,  the No 1 will come down Easter Road as before and then continue along the Links and on to Seafield (old Eastern General site). But it will go from the foot of Easter Road along Vanburgh Place, Hermitage Park and Claremont Park, in other words along the south side of the Links. There will be no bus serving people who live on the North side of the Links, e.g Links Gardens, Links Place, Salamander Place/Street, Elbe Street, Mitchell Street, Queen Charlotte St. etc. and Constitution St (who have already lost the No. 16 bus).This means quite a long walk across the Links for many people, which may be a problem for anybody older  / with mobility impairments  / pushing a wheelchair or buggy / carrying heavy shopping etc. There could be safety issues, at night time.

However people beyond the lights at Restalrig Road (Claremont Park, Pirniefelds, Seafield) will be served by the No 1.

Going into town,there will be no access to Leith Walk or York Place, as the 1 goes to Princes Street via Easter Road and Leith Street. So some people may need to take 2 buses, which has financial implications as well as time/effort costs.

The 25 and the 21 will continue, so if you can access Restalrig Road, that might be a better route for you than the 1. The 21 route is unchanged apart from bus stop closure on Duke Street. The 25 is unchanged going into town (apart from some bus stop closures on Duke Street and Leith Walk). Coming down from town, the 25 will be rerouted down Easter Road instead of Leith Walk.

Please read the details on the Lothian Buses web site, for more details about proposed changes, routes, timetables etc.

Please continue to use the comments facility, below, to add your voice and tell us how you will be affected by changes to the bus services around our area. We will use your comments to continue to press the case for an acceptable solution.

The tramworks that have already closed Constitution Street are soon to also affect Leith Walk, for the next 18 months. From 28th March, there will only be one lane on Leith Walk, for traffic going south (that is, going UP Leith Walk). Buses will still go up Leith Walk but those coming down will go down either Easter Road or Bonnington Road (No.10,11).

People who live beyond the bottom of Leith Walk  / Easter Road will be especially hard hit. We are told that the No.12 bus will terminate at George Street and stop coming down to Leith at all. This was the main bus serving Leith Links (and Salamander, the Pirniefields and Prospectbanks) and Seafield, and will be a major loss.

To partially replace the 12,  the No 1 will now come down Easter Road as before and continue  along the Links and on to Seafield (old Eastern General site). But there are two problems with this:

1. The No. 1 will go from the foot of Easter Road along Vanburgh Place, Hermitage Park and Claremont Park, in other words along the south side of the Links. No buses will go along Duncan Place / Links Place as they have been doing recently. There will therefore be NO bus at all serving people who live on the North side of the Links, e.g Links Gardens, Links Place, Salamander Place/Street, Elbe Street, Mitchell Street, Queen Charlotte St. etc. and Constitution St (who have already lost the No. 16 bus).
2. Although we have not yet managed to get sight of a finalised revised timetable, it seems likely (since there is now only one, not two) that the overall frequency of buses along the Links will be reduced, possibly by as much as 50%.

This means quite a long walk across the Links to get to a bus stop for many people, with a particular impact on anybody older  / with mobility impairments  / pushing a wheelchair or buggy / carrying heavy shopping etc. It could also significantly increase journey times. There could be safety issues, at night time.

Leith Links Community Council is very disturbed by this change. There was no consultation at all with the local community. The population on the north side of the Links is increasing hugely with all the new flats going up – people are told to use public transport, not cars (and few car parking spaces are provided) – but now the public transport is being removed!

We have signalled our concern to our three local Councillors and to Lothian Buses in the strongest terms. We will continue to campaign vigorously and will keep you posted with whatever replies we receive.

Please use the comments facility, below, to add you voice and tell us how these changes will affect you. These comments will, hopefully, strengthen the argument for this very damaging decision to be reviewed.

You can read more about the bus diversions overall here.

 But where is the 12? 

Let’s start the week with some nice news! The exotic plants from the Easter Road/ Duke Street roundabout (now removed) have found a lovely home! They have all been taken and replanted by Edinburgh Zoo, and will enhance new animal enclosures.

“The flax are perfect for our wallaby walkthrough enclosure, and the cordyline will go into our redevelopment at Living Links, where we have capuchin monkeys and squirrel monkey”.

https://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/animals-and-attractions/main-attractions/wallaby-outback/

We (Leith Links Community Council and City of Edinburgh Council) were alerted to the plight of these plants by a local resident who hails originally from New Zealand and recognised the flax as a plant from his homeland. (He is happy to know it is now ‘back in Australasia’ with the wallabies.) We DID TRY to find the iconic plants a new home in Leith. Leith Primary School and Projekt 42 were both interested but had to step back, in the end, for various reasons. Thanks to all who helped!