Edinburgh New Town residents complain electric chargers 'will bring unwanted traffic to cul-de-sac'

Edinburgh residents have complained that electric chargers planned for a New Town cul-de-sac will attract unwanted traffic to the area.

It comes amid a £2.2m rollout of 81 new on-street chargers from Edinburgh City Council serving 141 parking bays across the capital.

This includes 21 already operational at Ingliston Park & Ride and a further 19 at Hermiston Park & Ride, which will soon be ready for drivers to start using.

Electric car power points will also be set-up on Maxwell Street, Thirlestane Road, Stewart Terrace, Comely Bank Terrace/Avenue, Sheriff Brae, King’s Road, Montgomery Street, Fettes Avenue, East London Street and Heriot Row.

However, two chargers previously approved by councillors to be installed on India Street could be reassigned to another location after a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) was met with 15 objections.

Concerned residents called for the New Town cul-de-sac to be removed from plans and raised concerns about the potential increase in vehicles the chargers would attract, loss of permit parking spaces for those who live there and late-night visits from taxi drivers.

One objector wrote: “The cul-de-sac is frequently used by many local residents, including children, dogs, and the elderly, to walk across the road to the gardens and beyond.

“This end of India Street is mostly made up of flats, 12 with no private gardens. This will greatly impede access to India Street gardens including for my own primary-aged daughters.”

Another said: “The proposal will encourage significant numbers of extra vehicles in search of charging points thereby having an adverse effect on the nature of the street.”

In addition to the objections, transport officers said site investigations found there would be “significant challenges” installing charging points on India Street.

They noted in a report to councillors that due to the street’s distance from the nearest substation, 140 metres of track would have to be excavated across two roads, which would require diversion routes in place causing “significant disruption”.

That would risk “significant financial cost and negative impacts to delivery timescales for the broader electric vehicle project programme,” they added.

The report will go before the Transport and Environment Committee on Thursday and recommends councillors to remove India Street from the proposals.

Councillor Lesley Macinnes, transport and environment convener, said: “These new chargers will provide convenient charging for people travelling in and out of the capital, and very soon we’ll be delivering fast, accessible charge points in residential streets around the city too.

“The transition to clean, low emission transport like electric vehicles is critical if we are to meet our ambitious net-zero 2030 target, alongside choosing walking, wheeling, cycling or taking public transport to get around.

“It’s our role to support and encourage this so it’s fantastic that we’re now rolling out electric vehicle charging infrastructure across Edinburgh.”