Hansard

Back in 1994, when I was elected to Lothian Regional Council, I spoke to David Begg, who was the council's transport convener—members will all remember him. He told me that, by the end of its term, the council's Labour administration would have a ring of park-and-ride sites round Edinburgh. Well, we are still waiting. We now have two hugely successful schemes in the west of the city, near Edinburgh airport, but nothing has been delivered in south Edinburgh. If park-and-ride sites exist, people use them. Those that have been built are already having to be extended because of their popularity.

We must ask why the three park-and-ride facilities that were promised for south Edinburgh have not been built. They would help not only my constituents, whose streets are full of commuters' vehicles, but the commuters who come from Midlothian and the Borders. The new royal infirmary and biomedical park at Little France have also had an impact on traffic volumes.

I raised this issue in my first members' business debate, back in October 2003, but we are still waiting for the park-and-ride facilities—almost 10 years after they were promised. That is why I felt that it was important for us to debate the issue again.

In lodging the motion, I wanted to highlight several issues that have been impacting not just on commuters coming into Edinburgh but on the residents who bear the burden of commuter traffic and parking. I also want to highlight the role that the City of Edinburgh Council has played in the matter and the need for delivery by the council now that the Executive has provided the money. I am glad that the issue can be debated and I thank everybody who signed my motion.

I congratulate the south-east Scotland transport partnership on the work that it has done over the past few years, which has resulted in a great number of success stories for transport in south-east Scotland. The research into and development of the bus tracker real-time information system, bus priority measures and cycleway construction throughout south-east Scotland have proved the organisation's commitment to a programme and assure me of its good intentions. I welcome its continued efforts as it attempts to lessen the impact of continued population and economic growth on the communities and the environment of south-east Scotland. Edinburgh and the Lothians have one of the fastest-growing populations in Scotland, and SESTRAN's planning is very good. Sadly, the implementation of park-and-ride schemes by Midlothian Council and the City of Edinburgh Council—both Labour-run councils—has given me great concern.

The lack of park-and-ride facilities has been brought home to me recently by the escalating problems of commuter parking in suburban streets in south Edinburgh. That was always a problem, but the extension of the controlled parking zones in Edinburgh last September and again this month has brought the problem to a new group of people, who have filled my postbag with their complaints. While SESTRAN has been planning the construction of park-and-ride facilities at several sites in south Edinburgh, such as Sheriffhall, Lothianburn and Straiton, what has been described as bureaucratic lethargy has slowed those efforts to a near standstill. Although I accept that there have been technical difficulties at Sheriffhall, which I visited with the Minister for Transport last year, I do not understand why those difficulties were not foreseen. On that visit, I told the minister that the first south Edinburgh park-and-ride site would be opened by the council in December 2006. I can now report to him that the site will not open until October 2008. I hope that he shares my concerns over the delays, the blame for which must be placed squarely on the current administration of the City of Edinburgh Council.

The delays have affected not only commuters but the residents of the communities whose streets are being turned into car parks. I suspect that, as a result of the latest extension of the controlled parking zones, that is now the case in Mr McLetchie's constituency as well. Looking at the progress of the bus tracker real-time system and its expansion into Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian—a project that has been fully developed by SESTRAN—we see that such large transport projects can be implemented efficiently and effectively.

Poor planning for park-and-ride facilities is not the only problem that has impacted on the streets of south Edinburgh. The extension of controlled parking zones throughout south Edinburgh has led to many streets becoming clogged up, with the residents suffering because of it. Although the controlled zones help some people, there are many others who suffer because of them. The controlled parking zones are a good idea, but they have been implemented in a haphazard way without proper planning. The extension of the controlled parking zones should have been complemented by other transport improvements such as park-and-ride schemes, which would have given commuters and residents ample space. However, because of the slowness in developing the planned park-and-ride projects, whole communities have been impacted on. People have no choice but to drive on and into residential streets in the southern half of Edinburgh, just outside the current controlled parking zones.

I hope that I have highlighted the desperate need for park-and-ride sites to be delivered quickly for south Edinburgh. SESTRAN has done a great deal of work in planning those schemes and the time for talking is over. I was promised the sites in 1994, by the Labour administration of Lothian Regional Council, but we are still waiting—Labour has failed to deliver. I hope that the new councils that are elected on 3 May will step up and sort the problems out.