A transport package of almost £50M to regenerate Edinburgh’s waterfront has been approved by the city council. Council officers had expressed concern that developing new homes on Edinburgh’s waterfront could, over time, ‘generate significant new traffic’, which would ‘undermine the public transport network and worsen conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.’

As such, the North Edinburgh Transport Action Plan (NETAP) has been drawn up to develop a package of interventions which minimises the risk of increased congestion.

Measures include a requirement that all new developments must be within 250m of a defined public service, the introduction of a controlled parking zone in the Leith Docks area, improving roads and the reorganisation of 52 key junctions in the area to give priority to public transport, new cycle lanes and improving bus service.

Other plans include a ‘cycle centre’ at the Ocean Terminal tram stop, and design recommendations for roads within new development areas to encourage high levels of local walking.

Altogether, NETAP identifies a need for £49.7M of infrastructure investment, much of which is likely to come from private developers. However, the council is in talks with the Scottish Government to seek additional/alternative funding, perhaps through a tax increment finance model.