City of Edinburgh Council A-board Ban on Rose Street

On the 28th May 2010, a letter was handed into all the business along Rose Street. The letter stated that "Following consultation with businesses, residents and the City Centre Neighbourhood Partnership" all A-boards would be banned from Rose Street from 1st July 2010.

We immediately wrote a complaint letter to Mike Penny who is the Manager of the City Centre Neighbourhood of City of Edinburgh Council and whose name the letter was in. After 3 weeks in which no reply was received, we phoned and received a verbal reply stating that the ban who go ahead. We have since tried to appeal but our points have fallen on deaf ears.

Ourselves and the majority of traders along Rose Street are against the ban and the following objections were put to the Council -

• The decision was made solely for our street and affects no other streets in the area
• As one of the very few pedestrian streets in Edinburgh, the flow of pedestrian traffic is less affected by A-boards here than it is elsewhere
• The decision was made without any direct consultation
• The decision did not offer a sufficient time for alternatives to be put in place
• The absence of A-boards will have a detrimental effect on the character of the street

So far we have had no satisfactory reply despite meeting with Mike Penny on 30th June.

How you can help -

Can you send an email to Mike.Penny@edinburgh.gov.uk with either a support for A-boards or a mention of the points above. Even if you are not 100% in favour of A-boards, you can at least see the unfairness of the lack of consultation and the fact that only Rose Street is affected.

If you would like any more information before emailing, please give me a call on 0131 225 1233.

Many thanks, Gordon and the team at Calistoga