East Lothian Council is recommending that the existing Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) for Dunbar be amended to reflect current parking behaviour and road use by residents and businesses. A formal consultation letter has been sent out to statutory consultees. The Council would also like to gather the views of others with an interest in this issue. When responding to this consultation ELC IS ENCOURAGING respondents to take the following into account :
- The positioning of goods loading bays
- The location of disabled parking bays
- The length of time of stay (in relation to parking)
- The no return period (in relation to parking)
- The location of the taxi rank
THEY NEGLECT TO ADD that:
- moving the bus stop will affect residents, but details are not provided and we assume it will accentuate problems at the Abbeylands junction
- removing the remaining ‘resident parking’ will displace long term parking elsewhere (so much for reflecting “current parking behaviour”)
- creating new short stay parking in the Abbeylands cul de sac will increase traffic movements into a dead end, but we do not know the measures to ameliorate problems at this junction – safety will decrease
- there are no clear proposals for increasing safety of pedestrians and cyclists on the High Street, which is a substantial driver of the 2005 Buchanan report; delivery bays seem to be situated to favour one retailer in particular
- no supply side measures to control parking problems on the High Street, increasing the length of time people can park will reduce turnover – which is completely at odds with the idea that parking is in short supply!
If anyone can find a reference to the impacts on residents and disadvantaged groups, or at what point their views were taken into account in developing the proposals, it would be much appreciated.
You can respond to the consultation – but bear in mind they ELC are minded to file any comments or objections that are not part of the statutory process (e.g. parking proposals but not minor changes to the location of a bus stop!). Though they will put them on file, which is greatly reassuring.
FURTHER DETAILS ARE ON THE NEW CONSULTATION HUB HERE
Documents relevant to this consultation can be viewed below. Comments are invited either by email to pforsyth@eastlothian.gov.uk or in writing to Peter Forsyth, East Lothian Council, John Muir House, Haddington, EH41 3HA.
We’ve served some up on this site for your convenience and easy inline reading.
A map of the proposed TRO measure for Dunbar
The TRO memorandum is commendable only for its brevity and synthetic style – though I’ll bet few of us can constructively comment on the detail, which is where the devil hides.
I have asked for a meeting with officials and will publish news as soon as I have a date.