Traders say trams will halve car spaces on Leith Walk

TRADERS today said that Leith Walk will lose half its parking spaces to make way for the trams – more than double the official estimate.

The local authority said just 22 per cent of the street's 162 existing parking spaces would be lost in tram design proposals published last month.

But angry traders have calculated that just over half the spaces will be lost.

They say the council figure is misleading because it includes controlled parking bays being created in the side streets off Leith Walk.

While officials admitted problems with their initial figures, senior councillors today insisted the changes would only mean a loss of 12 spaces overall.

Grant Kavanagh, of Arkay Imaging on Leith Walk, who made his own calculations of the parking spaces, said: "I just think it is not fair to include the side streets because it is not a like-for-like comparison.

"This should have been made clear – why should it be up to people like me to work it out."

Although the parking spaces on side streets off Leith Walk are already in place, TIE officials have argued that because they carry no time restrictions they are not very useful to people looking to stop and shop.

When the trams are in place, one-hour maximum stay restrictions are likely to be applied to the side street spaces in order to encourage a greater turnover of cars.

Leith Walk has seen some of the worst disruption caused by tram works over the last 18 months.

Utilities works on sections of the busy street have recently been extended until December and construction for the tram tracks is also underway.

Alan Rudland, vice-chairman of the Leith Walk and Constitution Street Traders Association, said: "Now we are getting a like-for-like comparison we have a more meaningful idea of what is going to happen and you can see that the big squeeze is happening at the bottom of the Walk. It just seems to be that the designers have gone through the design process without physically going to the street and getting a feel for how it works."

City officials confirmed they had included the side streets in their calculations – but also admitted that their initial figures were wrong.

The council's revised calculations show that overall parking spaces on Leith Walk itself will fall by 48 per cent, but if you include side streets then the drop is only seven per cent.

Councillor Phil Wheeler, the city's transport leader, told the Evening News today: "The parking situation on and around Leith Walk, once trams are up and running, has been looked at in great detail.

"The proposed solution means a net loss of only seven per cent of parking, or 12 spaces.

"The council has been able to manage this small decrease by bringing controls into side streets which were previously unregulated.

"This will increase parking opportunities for visitors and shoppers in and around Leith Walk.

"While increasing the number of parking spaces is unlikely, through the current consultation process there is the flexibility to alter the hours of regulation and we will look at this if it's desired."