City supports all-traffic ban
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by David Craik • Hauliers delivering in Edinburgh will face a double financial whammy if plans to restrict traffic in the Scottish capital are approved.
The city council is considering banning all traffic from Princes Street, except buses, taxis and bicycles.
It would be an extension of the current ban on traffic on the eastbound carriageway.
A report to the council's transport com mittee concluded that a total ban would im prove air quality and jour . Fri pion urn ney times for midnigntd-nwit public trans 116.5. port and micinigh.t.7e,rnt -educe acciipr.n.'dents. strong, the Freight Transport Association's regional director for Scotland, fears the move would increase congestion in Edinburgh's other streets and delay hauliers delivering in the city. "Deliveries will be slowed," he says. "I doubt if Edinburgh's network can take this ban on Princes Street."
He also voiced fears that the much-debated ban on lorries of over 7.5 tonnes on the Royal Mile was back on the council's agenda.
"We are involved in a real tussle with the council over this," he says. "The Royal Mile is full of pubs and hotels and leisure facilities. We have to keep 17 tonne trucks in this area."
Two years ago the FTA used the Court of Session to halt the original plans of Lothian Regional Council to ban vehicles over 7.5 tonnes from the Royal Mile.