A wide-reaching plan that will see a wide variety of Edinburgh city centre streets close permanently to traffic has today (19 September) been given the official go-ahead by councillors.
The ambitious City Centre Transformation Plan was green lit at last week's transport and environment committee, but had to go to the full council meeting to get final approval.
The ten-year project will cost £314m, and is intended to give priority to pedestrians and cyclists by closing key streets to traffic - permanently.
There will also be an overhaul of cycling infrastructure, all designed to make the city centre more pedestrian (and eco) friendly.
The streets that will be closed to cars are Cockburn Street, Forrest Road, Victoria Street, Waverley Bridge and Lawnmarket. Bank Street will only allow buses and taxis, and Candlemaker Row will be reserved for buses only.
The High Street is also set to be closed to traffic between North Bridge and St Mary's Street.
The first phase of the project will take place over the next few years - and this will include the closure of Waverley Bridge. It's thought that this could become a pedestrian 'plaza' within the next three years.
Another part of the radical and ambitious strategy will see fewer bus journeys taking place through the capital’s centre, however to combat that, the City of Edinburgh Council has revealed that it intends to develop a free ‘hopper bus’ by the first half of 2023, in order to connect people to public transport services.
It's not clear where the remaining £300m for the final phase of the strategy will come from, however - which will be needed to fund projects like creating a tree-lined boulevard on Lothian Road and building a new cycling and walking bridge between the Old and New Towns.
Gavin Thomson, Friends of the Earth Scotland's air pollution campaigner, told the BBC:
"It is fitting this plan was passed the day before the Global Climate Strike, as all of Scotland's cities need to begin taking ambitious, forward-thinking steps to change the way we move around.
"Climate emissions from road transport in Scotland are at the same level now as they were in 1990, as councils and governments have shirked the necessary decisions.
"Let's hope this City Centre Transformation Plan marks a change in how seriously our councils take the need to change the ways we get around our cities".
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