Traders Along Leith Walk Route Win Bid to Keep Parking Bays

By NO BYLINE

PARKING bays next to the route of the tram line on Leith Walk are set to be saved after local traders raised fears that removing them would lose them business.

TIE had hoped to take out the parking spaces as part of work to put in the GBP 594m line but the Federation of Small Businesses in Edinburgh argued they were vital for traders along the route.

The bays are now set to be kept, along with one lane of road for all traffic and the tram lines in the middle of the busy street.

An FSB survey of 70 businesses on Leith Walk, carried out last September, found that more than two-thirds of traders already had difficulty finding parking spaces for deliveries and 78 per cent said previous roadworks had a negative effect on turnover.

James Welby, of Leith Walk greengrocer Tattie Shaw’s, said custom fell by a third when parking spaces were out of action because of work by Scottish Water in 2005.

He said: “We have a lot of older customers who come to us in their cars. They are spending GBP 20 or GBP 30 a time and we can’t afford to lose that sort of business.

“Even if we keep some of the spaces I think people will naturally be put off coming up Leith Walk in the car because of the tram.

“Parking is already at a premium on Leith Walk, we can’t afford for any to be taken away.”

Graham Russell, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses in Edinburgh, said:

“The availability of cost effective long and short term parking, that is also easy to find and use, is vital.”

(c) 2007 Evening News; Edinburgh (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.