Yellow Line Removal

I received this from John Richmond:

Changes to the Controlled Parking Scheme

I have received a letter from the council (actually, Tina received and passed it on to me). I've attached scans of the pages below. If you click on the pages they should zoom in (albeit probably a bit slowly if you have a slow internet connection).

Yellow Lines

John Richmond has sent me a list of the spaces he can make for us:

AMENDMENTS TO ZONE 8 PARKING BAYS

ROAD	PROPOSAL	BAYS
Warrender Park Road o/s 102	Remove 2m double yellow lines west of Spottiswood Street and extend residents parking.	-
Warrender Park Road opp 115-119	Move City Car Club parking bay eastwards. Move public parking bays westwards. Introduce residents parking bays between residents and City Car Club bays.	+2
Warrender Park Crescent opp 1	Extend residents parking bays westwards.	+1
Warrender Park Crescent opp 5	Extend residents parking bays eastwards.	+3
Warrender Park Crescent opp 9-11	Introduce 10m residents parking bay.	+2
Warrender Park Crescent o/s 12	Extend residents parking bay.	+1
Warrender Park Crescent opp 13	Introduce 10m residents parking bay	+2
Warrender Park Crescent o/s 20	Extend residents parking bay eastwards.	+1
Marchmont Street o/s 14-15	Extend residents parking bay northwards.	+3
Marchmont Street o/s 5	Introduce public parking bay.	+3
Warrender Park Terrace o/s 1	Extend residents parking bay eastwards.	+1
Marchmont Road o/s 11	Extend residents parking bay northwards.	+1
Marchmont Crescent o/s 21	Extend residents parking bay northwards.	+1
Marchmont Crescent opp1	Remove double yellow lines and introduce 10m residents parking bay	+2
Roseneath Place o/s 19-21	Extend residents parking bay northwards.	+2
Meadow Place o/s 12	Extend residents parking bay southwards.	+2
Meadow Place o/s 10	Extend residents parking bay northwards.	+1
Roseneath Terrace o/s 30-32	Introduce 10m residents parking bay	+2
Roseneath Terrace o/s 3	Extend residents parking bay eastwards.	+1
Argyle Place o/s 41	Extend residents parking bay northwards.	+1
Argyle Place o/s 31	Extend residents parking bay southwards.	+2
Argyle Place o/s 30	Change double yellow lines to single yellow lines.	-
Argyle Place o/s 28 and o/s 17	Extend public parking bay northwards and southwards	+2
Roseneath Street o/s 1 and o/s 7	Extend public parking bay eastwards and westwards	+2
Roseneath Street o/s 8	Extend residents parking bay eastwards.	+1
Warrender Park Road o/s 6 and o/s 14	Extend residents parking bay eastwards and westwards.	+1
Warrender Park Road o/s 18	Extend residents parking bay eastwards.	+1

PROPOSALS REQUIRING RELOCATION OF CONTAINERS

ROAD	PROPOSAL	BAYS
Marchmont Crescent opp15-17	Investigate moving refuse containers from west to east side of road, adjacent to steps to Roseneath Place (SfC – Murray Black)	-
Marchmont Street o/s 4	Extend residents bay northwards. Depending on relocation of refuse container.	+2
Marchmont Crescent o/s 1	Extend residents parking bay northwards. Depending on relocation of refuse container.	+1

PROPOSALS NOT CONSIDERED FEASIBLE

ROAD	PROPOSAL	BAYS
Chalmers Crescent	Introduce residents parking bay – not sufficient space available.	-
Warrender Park Road Adjacent to school	Introduce residents parking bay – guardrail, not considered possible on road safety grounds.	-
Warrender Park Road o/s 153	Introduce residents parking bay – shops, loading required	-
Whitehouse Loan o/s 1	Introduce residents parking bay – hotels, loading required	-

PROPOSALS ALREADY PROCESSED

ROAD	PROPOSAL	BAYS
Warrender Park Road o/s 102	Confirm that single yellow line is to be removed and residents parking bays are to be extended eastwards.	-
Marchmont Street east side	Confirm that public parking bay is to be removed and residents parking bays introduced.	-

AMENDMENTS TO ZONE S1 PARKING BAYS

ROAD	PROPOSAL	BAYS
Marchmont Road at Thirlestane Road	Extend residents parking bays southwards.	+1
Strathearn Road o/s 8	Introduce residents parking bays.	+2
Strathearn Road o/s 78	Remove double yellow lines. Move bus stop westwards. Extend residents parking bays westwards.	+2

URGENT! Avoid Some Streets in S1

Our ability to park in S1 is causing some discontent in a few streets there. The worst affected is Marchmont Crescent South. Please, avoid parking in that street at all and let your neighbours know, too.

There are some other streets where concerns are less vociferous but please try to avoid these as well.

• Lauderdale Street
• Spottiswoode Street
• Arden Street
• Marchmont Road

Jim Grieve and Eddie McDowell don’t want to enforce this yet and ask us to be considerate instead. We may find, though, that we won’t have a choice if we’re not careful. I think a prohibition will certainly be worse for us.

In my opinion, the problem is down to us not yet having shared use bays. They are very likely coming soon and that should free up more spaces for us so we don’t have to park in S1 as often. But, my worry is that until that goes through all the legal hurdles, we will give people in S1 the mistaken impression that merging with us will be bad for them. Even if they only think that due to a weird temporary situation, it won’t help us.

So, remembering that zone 8 permits probably stand out a mile to S1ers, please try to park in emptier streets – even if that means walking a bit further. Hopefully it’ll only be for a few months. Once the tough streets in zone 8 are merged into S1 the permits will all look the same and with shared use, too, all stress will vanish. We need to protect our long term goals.

Let me know what you think about all this.

Missing Streets Allowed to Park in S1

I’ve just heard from Eddie McDowell and Jim Grieve at the council that the missing streets have been given permission to park in S1!

The streets in question are:

• Warrender Park Crescent
• Argyle Park Terrace
• Sylvan Place
• Findhorn Place

Permit holders in those streets can start parking in S1 from today.

A letter will be sent out officially sometime next week. But since it is in effect from today, if you live in those streets, please let your neighbours know, too.

Thanks to Jim and Eddie!

There is a draft of the letter, here.

Car Tax

Not strictly parking related, but Mailin has drawn my attention to this petition to stop the new Tax As You Drive system where you'll have to buy a tracking device and will then be charged for every mile.

The petition is at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/sign

Looks like they needed 750,000 signatures to stop it and I think they have them.

Drivetime

I was interviewed today by Stephen Jardine from Scottish TV's Drivetime. They wanted to talk about the parking changes in Edinburgh. I'm not quite sure how much of an idiot I managed to make of myself - probably quite a lot! I'm not sure if I said anything that will upset anyone, bugger. Well, fingers crossed, eh? It was very interesting, I've never done anything like this before.

It's due to air on the 15th of Feb at 19:30 - though I wouldn't be surprised if I got edited out completely - I can't be the most photogenic of subjects :-)

Yellow Lines in the Biting Cold

This morning Marilyne MacLaren, Jim Grieve, John Richmond and I walked round the streets of Marchmont zone 8 looking where yellow lines could be removed to make more room for parking. It was baltic out there and I really must say how much I appreciate their time and effort on our behalf.

(From the left) Jim, Marilyne and John)

We found lots and lots of places where we can squeeze in more cars. Most of the ones on the list were agreed on and a few more that weren't on the list. There were some places we had listed which will be left to keep loading areas for local businesses and some for keeping visibility round corners and so on. On the whole, though, I think it will improve the situation quite a lot.

We'll have to wait a while for the places to get verified (John will go round and take measurements and so forth to get it all precisely). Then there'll be the statutory consultations which will take a few months, but soon :-) I'll keep you up to date if Jim or John send me the final list.

Jim also said that he hopes to be able to make decisions about the streets not included in the temporary measures within a month, maybe as short as a fortnight. I have my fingers crossed.

Removing Yellow Lines

On Tuesday, Marilyne is going to drag some of the council officials around the streets in zone 8 Marchmont to find out where there are yellow lines that could be turned into spaces. A little while ago a few of us wrote down some places that might be suitable.

Please, please, if you have any further suggestions, send them to me before Tuesday. Here's the list:

Street: Meadow Place
1 space by shortening the double yellows at the top.
3 or more spaces by making spaces where people park anyway, further down. At night these 'non-spaces' are all used and car have no trouble passing.

Street: Roseneath Place
4 spaces by removing double yellows in the end-on section. 1 and a half by moving the bin to the other side of the road.

Street: Marchmont Crescent (North)
2 spaces on the inner side of the turn with Warrender Park Road - 1 on the outer side
2 spaces could be made by moving the bins to the other side (next to the stairs). Another 1 if they were put adjacent to each other
2 spaces at the bottom, north end, by shortening useless double yellow lines
1 space - the space set aside for the bin at the bottom is twice the size it needs to be and the double yellow could be shortened on that side
Marchmont Crescent could be made one way and given end-on on one side - many, many more spaces

Street: Warrender Park Crescent (Marchmont Street - Whitehouse Loan)
Worthless yellow lines in Warrender Pk Cres opposite #3 (wasting 10 spaces); opposite #12 (? spaces); at #12 (1 space); opp #20 (wasting 5 spaces).

Street: Warrender Park Terrace (Marchmont Road - Spottiswoode Street)
3 spaces

Street: Marchmont Street (North)
8 spaces

Street: Warrender Park Road (Spottiswoode Street - Marchmont Street)
7 spaces

Street: Argyle Place Terrace
Single yellow lines at the end of the cul-de-sac, presumably required for vehicles turning, but are used for parking after 5.30pm (when the road is most congested). These could be removed, or painted as double yellow if they are truly required to be kept free at all times

Street: Argyle Place (Zone 8 side only)
Yellow line at the bottom of the road beyond the bin could be shortened, as could the yellow line in front of the post-box at the shops.

Street: Roseneath Terrace
Yellow line beside the bin on right hand side of the road coming in from Argyle Place is unnecessarily long and could be used for parking. The yellow line on the left hand side at the end of the road before Roseneath Place could be used for parking without obstructing the road but the other side should be kept clear. NB: There is a MC place and one cycle was in it, although often there are more. This should be kept for that use, cars often park in it in the evening.

Street: Whitehouse Loan (Warrender Park Road - Warrender Park Crescent)
*2 spaces at corner of Whitehouse Loan & Warrender Park Road
*1 space at corner of Whitehouse Loan & Warrender Park Crescent

Street: Warrender Park Road (Marchmont Street - Whitehouse Loan)
*4 spaces at the front of 151-153 Warrender Park Road (& Whitehouse Loan)
*4 spaces along railings opposite primary school entrance (Whitehouse Loan end)

Missing Streets! (Bad Hippie)

I am guilty of exactly the type of "I'm all right, Jack" attitude that I so wanted to avoid. When I read the letter from the council I skimmed the list of streets covered, saw Marchmont Crescent, where I live, and thought everything was cool.

I must apologise to those people whose streets have not been included! Particularly to those in Findhorn Place and Grange Loan, some of whom put in a vast amount of work with the campaign and who aren't on the list! I am very, very sorry for letting you down.

I will try to find out why those streets are not included and see if the council will add them. Please let me know if your street isn't on the list and you are still having trouble parking.

The Letter!

Hi everyone,

Now a few days ago I received, along with many of you, a letter allowing me to park in S1.

I would be very interested in hearing from you if you think you should have a letter and don't or if your street isn't on the list and you think it should be.

04 January 2007

Dear Resident

PARKING PRESSURES IN ZONES 7 AND 8

Since the introduction of zone S1 of the controlled parking zone extension, in September 2006, there has been increased pressure on residents' bays in certain streets within zones 7 and 8. This is due to residents who have recently purchased a permit when previously they parked outwith their zone in what is now S1.

In an effort to ease the pressure in the short term, we have made arrangements to allow zone 7 and 8 permit holders, in specified streets, to park in bays within zone S1, during the controlled hours. The streets are Argyle Place, Gladstone Terrace, Livingstone Place, Marchmont Crescent, Marchmont Road, Marchmont Street, Meadow Place, Roseneath Place, Roseneath Street, Roseneath Terrace, Spottiswoode Street, Warrender Park Road and Warrender Park Terrace.

In order to ensure, however, that the balance of controlled parking in the new zone S1 is not compromised, the above arrangements will be subject ot review and may be changed accordingly. In any event, the arrangement is temporary and will end when the new zone boundaries are established.

In the longer term we are looking at the feasibility of adjusting zone boundaries, reallocating existing parking places and investigating other means by which the utilisation of the available kerbside could be improved.

Survey work recently carried out in the area is currently being analysed. It is anticipated that the results of that analysis, and an indication of the type of measures that would be appropriate to address the issues identified by the surveys, will be available shortly.

I hope that you will find the temporary arrangement helpful. If you have any questions please contact the Parking Customer Care team on 0131 469 3898 for advice.

Yours faithfully,


Keith Rimmer
Head of Transport