Princes Street fire raises questions over long-term pedestrianisation plans for George Street
‘What happens in future if there's another incident?’ - Cllr Iain Whyte
Last week's fire in the former Debenhams store shows that long-discussed plans for pedestrianisation of George Street would be a huge mistake, Edinburgh Tory group leader Iain Whyte has claimed.
With a key section of Princes Street now expected to remain closed into August, buses continue to be diverted along parallel George Street instead.
But Cllr Whyte asked what would happen if there was another incident which closed Princes Street and George Street was not available because it had been made a pedestrian and cycle street.
He said: "There would be a huge mess if that happened and there was no alternative. You'd be trying to push buses along Queen Street where you've pushed all the extra traffic from everywhere else.”
The council is already being forced to drop its plans to close George Street to traffic from July 30 to September 1 for the Festival, so that bus diversions can remain in place.
Longer-term plans to ban general traffic from George Street for most of the day, remove the parking down the centre of the street and install planters, benches and trees were put on hold in February when councillors rejected a proposal to use £32 million of money from the Visitor Levy to implement the scheme.
But Cllr Whyte said: “This incident shows how heavily Edinburgh relies on Princes Street for its public transport network and the only remaining resilience is to push buses up onto George Street. If you took it out of the equation there's no resilience left.
“What happens in future if there's another incident? You can't leave a city without a public transport network.”
Cllr Whyte said the Princes Street closure also called into question the policy included in the council’s City Mobility Plan to have buses travelling “to but not through” the city centre by stopping buses going along Princes Street and establishing hubs on the edge of city centre where passengers could be dropped off.
Cllr Whyte said: “We're seeing how dramatic just a diversion in the city centre is for buses at the moment. People aren’t getting where they want to be and they are in longer queues. Imagine if your bus only went to Picardy Place or Haymarket and you had to get off and use a tram or walk the rest of the way. That's not feasible for everyone.”
The current bus diversions are leading to congestion and delays. And Edinburgh Bus Users Group has called for emergency measures, including temporary bus priority lanes in George Street to keep public transport flowing and prevent gridlock.
Council leader Jane Meagher said it was “misguided and misinformed” to describe the George Street project as pedestrianisation.
And she claimed it would still be possible for buses to use the revamped street in an emergency.
She said: “It’s disappointing that at a time when we’re doing our upmost to keep the city moving under extremely challenging circumstances, that people view this as an opportunity to score cheap political points.
“There are no plans to fully pedestrianise the street, certain vehicles would still have access and in emergencies we would still be able to reroute buses along the route.
“From encouraging more sustainable travel choices to creating an environment centred around people, whilst celebrating our unique city heritage, our focus is on meeting the many needs of our changing city.”
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