Official Report 213KB pdf
Holyrood Park Amendment Regulations 2001 (Draft)
The next item on the agenda is the consideration of subordinate legislation. I remind members and the public that all mobile phones and pagers should be switched off or set to silent mode.
Is there considered to be a difference between commercial and heavy commercial vehicles?
Yes, there is. The difference is to do with the weight and the axle size. The regulations were introduced to limit the number of very heavy vehicles going through that section of the park.
Are commercial vehicles able to go through the park at the moment?
Under the current regulations commercial vehicles are not allowed to go through the park.
Will the regulations have any effect on coaches? I understand that coaches have access to the park on payment of a fee. Will the new regulations make any difference to them?
Coaches will be able to use the section identified as the Holyrood loop without payment.
Will that interfere with the collection of the fee for the remainder of the park?
No, it will have no impact on that at all.
Will there be a time limit on the regulations? Given that the route will be permanent, is it intended that the regulations will remain in force?
Yes. It will be a permanent change to the regulations.
Who will police the change?
Although there are royal parks constables in the park, the policing is the responsibility of Lothian and Borders police. It is their responsibility to police the breaking of any traffic regulations in the park.
I ask that question because I have noticed a number of commercial vehicles displaying advertising driving between Meadowbank and Holyrood and not being apprehended.
That would be more of a matter for the park police than Lothian and Borders police.
Is there any alternative route that could have been considered or was considered?
Along with the Parliament project team and the Edinburgh City Council, we considered other possibilities. The only possibility was one that involved duplicating those roads in the Royal High School playing fields. It was confirmed that that would raise traffic movements in the park and would allocate more of the area to roadways. That was therefore discounted early on.
The presence of the Parliament will affect the traffic flow in that area. Will the presence of the Parliament also increase the traffic in that section of the park covered by the regulations?
Studies have been done on that. The regulations are being accompanied by a number of traffic calming measures in the vicinity of the Parliament, along roads such as Horse Wynd. There will also be improvements to the current road layout. The Holyrood triangle was always a problem for traffic control and resulted in problems for the management of traffic in that area. That is being replaced with a roundabout. The improvements to the traffic layout, plus the traffic calming measures, are likely to have a beneficial effect on traffic in that area of the park.
I was specifically asking about the increase in traffic volume because of the presence of the Parliament. Do you think that traffic volume will increase because of the presence of the Parliament and that therefore there will be an increased use of the roads specified in the regulations?
The Parliament is likely to attract more vehicles to that area. However, the overall impact is difficult to predict. I do not think that any of the surveys have been conclusive. There are balancing measures that are likely to reduce as well as increase the number of vehicles. The exact impact is unclear, but measures have been taken to calm the traffic in that area and consequently reduce the number of vehicles using that route unnecessarily.
Are you confident that the road infrastructure in that section of the park is able to cope with the type of vehicle that will be using it? Obviously those vehicles are not currently using it. If the infrastructure cannot cope in the long term, who has responsibility for repairing and replacing that section of road?
Part of the works that were identified for the roads in Holyrood park included upgrading the underlying sub-structures of areas of the road that we knew to be soft. Improvements have to be made to the existing roundabout and the Holyrood triangle is to be replaced. There has been comprehensive upgrading of those roads so that they are capable of taking the type and expected numbers of vehicles on those sections of road. The roads will remain the responsibility of Historic Scotland. There is no change to that.
I do not have any indication that members wish to oppose the SSI. We will not therefore make any recommendation to Parliament and will allow the SSI to proceed.
Meeting adjourned.
On resuming—
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