Bath Street Traffic Restrictions

[Puerto bella]

Anyone able to shed any light on council proposals that are underway to 'double yellow' from the Espe up to 44 Bath St...apparently not part of the wider traffic consultation that was earlier in year?

[seanie]

Not heard about that.

[SoupDragon]

I can't remember seeing anything mentioning that

I see Bellfield Lane is now one way

[Puerto bella]

Appears very few have heard about it yet apparently its full steam ahead as Andy Mattieson never had any comments from anyone in the street .........

If Bellfield can be one way......

[seanie]

I thought one of the outcomes of the consultation was to come up with proposals for a one-way system?

[Puerto bella]

It seems that the consultation is dealing with a bigger picture and yes you're right it was looking a the potential for one way system but this seems to be something different - maybe connected to accommodating the banks of bins, bins and more bins.
Placemaking ruled by traffic engineers is generally considered suicide at worst or out of vogue at best in most Scottish authorities and indeed in Europe as a whole but apparently not in Edinburgh where, ah I forgot, some officers rule the council rather than the people we elect.

[GRANTY]

Residents were advised that the notice about Bath Street was posted in The Evening News and that appears to count as 'consultation' !

[wangi]

Presumably sticking down double yellows requires a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO)? Bath St doesn't seem to be covered by any of those currently up on the Council website: http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/1523/t ... c_orders/2

And aren't these normally also advertised by sticking notes up on the streets impacted?

[Puerto bella]

I have emailed Andy Mattieson, CEC Transportation aka ' the cooncil man who poo poos residents suggestions and does the opposite' to ask about the double yellow proposals as I cant get a straight answer from anyone as to when, where, why etc......it surely cant be true that we're all getting double yellows because the Espe, Chippy and Beach House can't find anywhere lawful to put their bins and its all about accommodating bins?

[wangi]

Response to a request for the TRO:

Thank you for your email regarding the new waiting restrictions being introduced in Bath Street. I can confirm that this Order (TRO/10/29) was put to public consultation from 15 July to 9 August 2011 and no objections were received. Therefore the Order was made and became effective on 31 October 2011.

I have attached for your reference a copy of the plans which were available on our website during the consultation period. Plan number 14 illustrates the restrictions being introduced on Bath Street, which are for the double yellow line waiting restrictions to be extended and the introduction of a disabled parking bay.

TRO1029-Amalgamated-Plans.pdf

(4.82 MiB) Downloaded 280 times

[seanie]

It looks like fairly minor extensions to the existing DYLs to ease congestion at junctions.

[rmolehusband]

It looks like fairly minor extensions to the existing DYLs to ease congestion at junctions.

Indeed, bit of a storm in a teacup really.

[Puerto bella]

If I'd had my Hallowe'en costume on I might win...

Anyhow - next traffic consutlation event will be in mid Dec - poss 14th. Look out for it - Paul tell all the people in your stair that said they didnt know about it last time.

[cuth]

I called the council and was told that there were no plans to change any parking restrictions and that the council would not consider making any changes while consultation was going on about the wider parking issues. Clearly, they lied.

[seanie]

I've had dealings with the Council in a variety of ways, including some quite testy disagreements. However, as individuals I've found officials to be on the whole pretty reasonable and competent. In my experience problems that I have encountered have been more institutional. It's a big authority, dealing with multiple things, and sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, individuals aren't familiar with things at a local level, or that decisions are made on reasonable grounds without recognising that the public may view things differently if only due to a lack of information.

[Bob Jefferson]

To be honest, I think that this attitude that a lot of people seem to have towards the Council says a lot more about them than it does about CEC. I find it difficult to understand but they seem to like to be angry and have something to rage against. They don't seem to see that Council officials are just ordinary individuals, like you or I, who are trying to do a job to the best of their ability within whatever constraints they face. To portray them as having some collective malevolence seems bizarre.

[Epykat]

To be honest, I think that this attitude that a lot of people seem to have towards the Council says a lot more about them than it does about CEC. I find it difficult to understand but they seem to like to be angry and have something to rage against. They don't seem to see that Council officials are just ordinary individuals, like you or I, who are trying to do a job to the best of their ability within whatever constraints they face. To portray them as having some collective malevolence seems bizarre.

I totally agree with you on that level Bob (I have the same problem at work....). However, SOMEBODY must ultimately make the big decisions on what goes ahead, so by not getting their act together and making sure all Council staff who need to know are aware of all the facts, they're opening themselves up to criticism and suspicion. And you have to admit, they've cocked up majorly recently.

[Bob Jefferson]

I totally agree with you on that level Bob (I have the same problem at work....). However, SOMEBODY must ultimately make the big decisions on what goes ahead, so by not getting their act together and making sure all Council staff who need to know are aware of all the facts, they're opening themselves up to criticism and suspicion. And you have to admit, they've cocked up majorly recently.

Any large organisation has faults that are endemic and it can be very frustrating for both its employees and its customers. And Council employees are just like employees anywhere else. Some of them are dedicated and very good at their jobs, others less so. The vast majority of my experiences in dealing with the council have been positive, but I think a lot depends on where you are starting from. If you start with negative expectations and prejudices then you are unlikely to achieve the result you hope for.

[Porty]

Any large organisation has faults that are endemic and it can be very frustrating for both its employees and its customers. And Council employees are just like employees anywhere else. Some of them are dedicated and very good at their jobs, others less so. The vast majority of my experiences in dealing with the council have been positive, but I think a lot depends on where you are starting from. If you start with negative expectations and prejudices then you are unlikely to achieve the result you hope for.

Beautifully put, I invariably find council employess to be helpful, competent and polite, even traffic wardens are decent to deal with. (are they employed by the council). Having said that, planning is a minefiled and there seems to be a lot of unintentional errors made by officials, it must be frustrating for those who operate in that sphere.

Admin: off-top topic nastyness split to http://forum.talkporty.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5504

[rmolehusband]

Getting back at the changes, they all look minor to me and all designed to improve safety at junctions, admittedly at the cost of several parking places in areas where they are already in short supply. I suspect that when someone from the cooncil said 'no changes until the end of the consultation' they probably meant no decision on major changes rather than on-going tweaking like this. That seems like a more plausible explanation that wholesale corruption and incompetence in this case.

The changes at the foot of Bath Street are less obviously helpful, but probably aimed at creating a large enough area for those parked below Straighton Place to turn, rather than reversing back up to the junction. It will also improve access for the residents of the MBH flats, though there may be little sympathy for them with their garages and private parking spaces. Lastly it may be about addressing long term concerns about the access for emergency vehicles there. It will also make commercial access for deliveries and collections easier and safer - for better or worse the businesses at the end of the street need access.

[administrator]

Anyhow - next traffic consultation event will be in mid Dec - poss 14th. Look out for it - Paul tell all the people in your stair that said they didn't know about it last time.

facebook: Traffic and Parking Consultation on Marlborough St, Bellfield St, Regent St, Bath St and Straiton Place - 14th Dec, 5pm to 7pm at Portobello Town Hall

[wangi]

So that TRO has been finally implemented, with the double yellow lines on Bath st going down yesterday:


(thanks to Jane Gardner for the photo)

"If anyone else wants to complain about the new parking restrictions on Bath St, call Andy at the council on 0131 529 3750 ASAP!"

That's a fair few parking spaces gone.

L/

[Puerto bella]

A neighbour up the street was so enraged he called the council on Wed and was told that the TRO wasnt actually in place/ adopted or whatever it is they do to ratify TROs - so.....if you get a ticket on those double yellows or are nabbed for parking in that ever empty disabled bay - is it enforceable? Most prob not if they guy is correct.

[Puerto bella]

Today - it seems that the residents at this end of the street have stuck two fingers up to the inadequacies of CEC and are all blatantly ignoring their un-enforcable traffic restrictions/ double yellows. Only people they benefit it seems are the lorry drivers who can get to the bottom of the street faster. Designing Streets has passed this council by.

[Pal of Porty]

All clear this morning when I cycled past. I also passed a LIne Painting lorry coming down Bath Street so I wondered if they were going to be painting even more!

[wangi]

Some updates on the Bath St double yellow lines...

There were three things happened which have come together, but are separate. A bollard on the corner of Straiton Place and Bath Street, some double yellow lines, most of which were subject to some statutory (though maybe inadequate) consultation, and disabled parking bays.

Communication from the central to the local roads team has not been good I reckon. Some of what is there does make sense. Our first instinct was to have it all burned off again. But on reflection, we wanted to leave it and go down to have a calm look at how much of it could and should remain.

Andy Matheson and I are meeting up with the parking guys on site this week.

I hope that's helpful. Maureen

The new restriction at this location should be a Double Yellow Line on the North West Side with, and a disabled bay outside number 58-60.

When the new lines were marked down the existing lines on the promenade side of the cul-de-sac and the South East side were refreshed.

Regretably ,the yellow blips marking the loading prohibition at the junction of Straiton Place with Bath Street (which extends 10m along Bath Street), was accidentally continued along the double yellow line restriction in the cul-de-sac.

The incorrect blips are to be removed, possibly today, just leaving the Double Yellow Line on site.

I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

So, when the loading restriction lines are burnt off we'll end up with the DYLs per the TRO posted earlier in the thread.

[wangi]

Ok latest update... The "no loading" restriction kerb lines have now been removed, and the double yellow lines are enforceable (conform to the TRO above), so guerilla night time parkers beware!

The disabled bay will become active / enforceable when a sign goes up for it.

[Puerto bella]

So how come the council dont know anything about the TRO when people phone the Roads Dept and they check their register of confirmed TROs?

[wangi]

I've never understood why they're not published online as standard. And have found getting hold of one challenging!

[cuth]

I see that signs have gone up announcing that the double yellow lines are to extended even further on the 5th of April. I think the council are completely out of touch with the community on this issue.