Greener Leith

We're grateful to the Evening News as they've really picked up on our cycle campaign recently with two articles:

• Wheels Turn In Campaign For Cycle Path
  
• We Must Help Bike Bike Projects Step Up A Gear
  

 The second post was modified a wee bit by the Scotsman editorial staff, so we reproduce the original below for your reading pleasure:

I'm delighted to see that the Scotsman has enthusiastically embraced the 'Go Green' message. Among the things we are being asked to do by our local paper and indeed our new government is to try to leave the car at home. Afterall, a large proportion of journeys we undertake are less than a few miles, so why not cycle or walk the kids to school, at least when it isn't raining?

In North Edinburgh the decline of the railways has been the pedestrians gain. We have a fantastic network of green paths connecting Leith with Bonnington, Cannonmills, Pilton, Granton and even Fife if you're feeling keen. Take a walk on any sunny Sunday afternoon and the paths are teeming with kids learning to ride their bikes, dog walkers and joggers, co-existing for the most part, fairly well. Not only do good quality paths get out us out of cars – they keep us healthy and happy. They do all this whilst somehow providing a valuable habitat for wildlife at the same time. In many parts of North Edinburgh it is really possible to leave the car at home for all those short journeys.

Yet the story is not the same for everyone. Between Leith and Portobello, there lies a neglected bit of path that could provide a valuable Eastward extension to this network. Raised up above the pedestrian nightmare of Seafield Road there is another disused railway line with a path running along it. Except this path is overgrown, hard to access for those of us on wheels, and unlit. By day, it is inhabited by keen joggers and determined bike commuters – who despite the hassle of carting their bikes up onto the path, still prefer it to jousting with the juggernauts on Seafield Road below. At night, I just wouldn't go there.

Three years ago a small group of SPOKES volunteers cut a ramp into the embankment at Seafield Street, and since then they've worked to improve the path surface and keep the vegetation back. Is it really the case that a route with such potential is open only because of the goodwill of a few volunteers? Sadly, yes it is. Last September, Greener Leith organised a cycle ride along the route to highlight how near, and yet so frustratingly far, we are from having a usable path. You can see the photos on our website.

Since then the campaign has garnered the support of SUSTRANs, SPOKES and some of the local councillors. The Council has told us that it will cost at least half a million pounds  to make the route accessible for wheelchair users, and much more to upgrade it to the same standards as the rest of the  path network. This sum is certainly beyond the means of Greener Leith, but, just as the best way to eat an elephant is one mouthful at a time, we will keep to trying to get funds, and support for improvements to this route.

At a time when England has massively increased spending on cycle projects, it is unfortunate that the Scottish Government seem set on reducing the already paltry amount available to bodies like SUSTRANS, who would normally work with local authorities to fund these projects. In the meantime, we should all thank those volunteers who continue to maintain the path so that others can keep using it.