Leith to Portobello cycle path improvements approved

Today councillors gave full planning permission to proposals to upgrade the cycle path from Leith Links to Portobello, with work now due to start in the new year on a new ramp out of Leith Links and up to the railway line. 

You can see a detailed map of the Leith Links end of the proposed works here.

This means that the cycle route eastwards from Leith will be much improved. The new path will be tarmac, and not mud, it will be wider, and it will connect properly with Seafield Street and a wider, shared use pavement along Seafield Road that links up with the Portobello promenade. It will also be lit at night for the length of the whole route. 

Lastly, it will also connect with the newly improved loop of path that runs from Seafield Street around Lochend and into Easter Road by Leith Academy. 

Altogether these improvements mean that the cycle routes around the Eastern half of Leith have been much improved - something Greener Leith has been campaigning for since 2007. 

The only things that look likely to cause a delay to the works are bats, badgers and archealogy - according to the planning report. 

Whilst we're assured that these improvements have just about managed to slip in before steep proposed Scottish Government cuts to active travel bugets begin to bite, if you want to see more facilities being built like this in Edinburgh it might be worth taking some action to support the SPOKES campaign to hold the SNP to their budget promises on Active Travel.

You can find out more about the proposed active travel cuts and what you can do to persuade the Scottish Government not to implement them here. 

Comments

[Nikki MacLeod]

While I'm glad that there is going to be an upgrade to the raised section of this path, I'm really disappointed about what has been happening along Seafield Road. Massve traffic jams have been caused by unnecessary widening of the north side pavement. Nobody in their right mind wants to cycle along Seafield Road, especially when there is a oerfectly good route in place nicely separated from the traffic by a railway line and lots of bushes. Why on earth didn't they spend their time upgrading this wee path and actually move the pedestrain crossing 50m west to avoid the nasty wee double back. Do we know if Sustrans approved this version of the route as it's not the one we all spent much time discussing and researching. Nikki.

[Ally]

Hi Nikki,

We argued that the path on the other side of the railway should be used too - as it is certainly more pleasant to use. That path is on Network Rail land, and I think CEC thought it easier to avoid legal issues and simply upgrade the Seafield road pavement.

Also, I think there were concerns that the railway and level crossing may sometimes block the path - especially if the railway starts to be used more frequently. Again, not sure I'm personally convinced by this argument either, but that was the other part of the justification for sticking with the plan to widen the pavement.