CAMPAIGNERS in Morningside have won their fight to keep parking restrictions off their streets.
Two-thirds of people who responded to a council consultation on the extension of the controlled parking zone into the area around Comiston Road were opposed to it.
Edinburgh City Council's transport, infrastructure and environment committee will n
ow be recommended to throw the plan out when it meets tomorrow.
Doug Gordon, 42, who lives in Craiglea Drive, led a campaign against the extension of parking controls, carrying out his own survey, in which 500 out of 543 people said they were against the move.
He said: "I'm pleased that the council has listened because we had quite a lot of objections to it, but I was a little bit surprised to be honest. I thought they'd be a bit more bullish about trying to push it through.
"I know there will be some people who will be very disappointed in this decision, and I'm sorry if that's the way they feel, but I think the majority will be pleased.
"It's just not necessary round here, and traffic wardens would change the atmosphere of this place. On a larger scale I think CPZs are the wrong way to go in this city."
Edinburgh's transport convener, Councillor Phil Wheeler, said a survey had found the number of commuters parking in the area was relatively low.
"Parking in this area will continue to be monitored in order to gauge the effects of controlled parking in nearby areas.
"Any proposal to introduce parking control in the city includes thorough consultation with the public as well as detailed surveys.
"Controls will not be introduced in an area where there is clearly no need for them."
Opposition to the plan was not evenly spread – 87 per cent of those rejecting the CPZ lived to the west of Comiston Road, with greater support for the plan to the east.
The recommendation to tomorrow's committee meeting says the area should not be split, as introducing controlled parking on the east side only would then push parking problems westwards.
However, Mark McInnes, councillor for Meadows/Morningside, said he would push for this to be reconsidered.
"There's no way the council could go ahead with the CPZ as they planned because there is huge opposition on the west side," he said.
"However, the council is going to have to look in future at how traffic and parking management is introduced on the east side, because there was two-to-one support on that side of the road for something to be done.
"I do think that the council's going to have to take note of the views of the residents because on the east side of Comiston Road there is obviously a desire for something to be done about the parking.
"I think they are two very distinct areas and the views are obviously very different."
The full article contains 486 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
