'Legal action' threat against Edinburgh's Spaces for People

It's claimed 'hundreds' of businesses are threatening legal action against Edinburgh Council over its Spaces for People scheme.

Some loading bays, drop-off zones and disabled parking areas were removed to give cyclists and pedestrians more room during the lockdown.

But Rupert James, who runs a home entertainment store in Tollcross, claims he's struggling to stock his store: "We have widened pavements outside of the premises, and as part of that initiative all our main loading and unloading bays around our business have gone, as have our parking spaces for disabled shoppers.

"A business such as ours which receives large palletised deliveries, large boxes - not only do those need to be able to reach us, but they also need to be able to leave us.

"Starving businesses of the products that they need to sell - preventing delivery companies and also shoppers from being able to collect products doesn't seem to make any sense whatsoever at this time.

"Legal action is the last thing that we would want, however, if there's no engagement, and there's no willingness to reflect the wants of the people - whether it's the residential or the business community - I'm not really sure what other actions can be taken."

Companies are calling on council representatives to meet with business bosses amid accusations of local government's 'refusal to engage on flawed transport proposals.'

And it's not only businesses challenging the local authority's latest transport policies.

Rob Swinney is a Morningside resident who set up a petition for the council to reverse a decision to prohibit parking on nine of the Scottish capital's high streets.

After 3,535-people supported the petition, the protestor told us: "More and more people are parking on the double yellow lines at junctions or actually parking outside the bollards, therefore blocking the roads, and it's not safe, and potentially an accident waiting to happen.

"I've seen lorries delivering two blocks away and having to push the crates of goods across side streets to get to the shop, causing blind spots and safety issues for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists."

Responding to the concerns raised, deputy transport convenor, Karen Doran told Radio Forth News: "These are temporary measures. They of course won't be perfect. We will require to tweak them as we go. We're happy to meet with people to discuss it with people.

"I know there's been at least four to six meetings with local councillors and businesses, and we have officers on the ground - walking around, finding out if there should be tweaks, or if there are any issues that people are raising that we need to act on.

"I would hate to think that people really believe that we're doing this to damage their businesses. It's the absolute opposite of what we're trying to do."

Reacting to suggestions that businesses may resort to challenging Spaces for People in the courts, Cllr Doran commented: "I'm not quite sure on what grounds, and I'm just really disappointed that there's been a breakdown, and that we can't talk to each other, and try and resolve the issues."