curiosity about the ways of the world

Clear the clutter on Leith Walk

Ray Perman’s recent commentary on Leith Walk prompted Ross Armstrong to put down some thoughts about how to improve Edinburgh’s most interesting boulevard (but first he measured it on Google maps).

The amazing potential of Leith Walk strikes me every time I walk down it. It’s a great big boulevard that feels like it’s going to waste. Perhaps because the potential is so obvious to all, it’s always been assumed it will fulfill it eventually on it’s own.

It has history, architecture, excitement and an edge to it, so it’s not that strange to compare it to Las Ramblas, and it’s actually longer (1.6km long as opposed to 1.2km), so there’s plenty of space to work with. This is most likely the biggest problem – because of it’s sheer size it is hard to manage coherently – so it’s perhaps unsurprising the council treat it just like any other big road. However, I believe this is a significant street, and it needs sympathetic improvements, not just box ticking efforts required to make it a functioning dual carriageway.

For starters: one of the big problems I see is clutter. It’s got to be one of the most cluttered streets in Edinburgh. Things off the top of my head that could go:

The aforementioned “ugly metal shutters”, and “garish keep left signs”, and excessive signage in general.
Those Tram adverts, just insulting now.
Cut down on phone boxes, there are loads of them and they’re hardly used these days.
Cut down on bike racks- these are all over the place. (It seems like there was money for these at some point and the council went crazy! They look like they’ve been placed randomly and most are rarely used from what I can see.)
Bins of every shape size and colour, perhaps more effort should be put into standardisation and concealment.
Bus ticket machines. Fail.
Speed cameras, I can think of at least two, they look terrible, take up space on the pavement, and are they really necessary?
Shop signs in the street should be tightly regulated.
“Feeder pillars” or what ever they are called, I’m sure some of these mysterious metal boxes on the pavement are redundant, in some places on Leith Walk there are 3 right next to each other, seems unnecessary. I’ve heard of these being plonked out without prior warning, this certainly shouldn’t happen.
Replace broken bollards/railings, or just get rid of them.

Sell all this for scrap and buy some trees!!

[Many thanks to Ross who kindly let me use his comment on Ray’s blog as a stand alone post.  He will soon be receiving a copy of Prospect magazine featuring Sir Terry Farrell’s  design challenges for Edinburgh – including Leith Walk’s potential to become Edinburgh’s Ramblas]

8 Comments

  1. Administrator

    Thanks Nick, and everyone else who has made such good points on the state – and potential – of Leith Walk. And a Leith Open Space event seems an excellent way forward.
    It would be really great to build on this interest and hold an event which would be a real community consultation leading to real action. Most so-called consultations actually impose top down decisions whcih have already been made. The Open Space process allows proper participative democracy to influence decisions and inspire actions.

  2. Nick Gardner

    Seems to me there’s a Leith Open Space event crying out to be held 🙂

  3. Annette O'Carroll

    If trees ‘don’t work” on Leith Walk, how come they seem to ‘work’ pretty well on Paris streets?

  4. Gordon Munro

    I agree about the clutter.There are signs up for developments that have been built for years and left up by developers.Good idea about phone boxes but not about bike racks. I would like to see more bike racks and in innovative styles which add to the character of Leith Walk. I’m afraid trees did not really work as the salt in winter and the general environment did not help growth.The Ramblas works as people walk it .More perambulation is what is needed. Keep up the dialogue though.

  5. Chris Cooke

    Cut down on bike racks? Over my dead body. Cut down on car parking spaces first. You don’t even mention them! And they take up far more space.

  6. Administrator

    By the way, there were many other excellent comments on Ray’s Leith Walk ‘rant’. They are all entitled to a copy of Prospect magazine (donated by Councillor Gordon Munro) containing Terry Farrell’s vision for Edinburgh – his view of the design challenges of course includes Leith Walk which Farrell also likens to Las Ramblas.

    If you would like a copy let me know, I will send the list of names and addresses to Gordon Munro.

  7. Administrator

    Thanks Michael – agreed. It’s a shame when a beautiful city like Edinburgh becomes blind to street clutter. There’s an interesting project in some European cities (called CIVITAS I think but I must check) where all road markings and unnecessary signs are removed – looks great, especially in those parts of town where people like to wander round.

  8. Michael Traill

    I totally agree that street clutter is an issue in lots of places in Edinburgh and Leith Walk is a great example.

    The only thing I can say is that Lothian Buses Plc recently announced that all on street ticket machines are getting removed.

    http://news.scotsman.com/lothianbuses/Onstreet-ticket-machines-driven-out.6733689.jp

    (That was in April this year)

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