NEWS: Calder Crossing Campaign Ramps Up

By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
November 24, 2008

A CAMPAIGN is set to be launched to install pelican crossings across a busy dual carriageway after a series of attacks left residents too scared to use the underpasses.

More than 80 residents of Sighthill, Broomhouse and Parkhead have come together to demand action on the Calder Road underpasses, which have been the scene of numerous attacks, robberies and drug-related crimes.

Many elderly residents no longer walk through the underpasses, meaning they are cut off from shops, health services and the post office.

Others prefer to brave crossing the road.

After a public meeting earlier this week, the community council has now come to an agreement to press for two new pelican crossings at the Parkhead and Sighthill shops.

Elizabeth MacDonald, 57, pictured right, a wheelchair-user from Calder Gardens, has gathered a 400-name petition calling for the crossings. She said: "Around a fifth of the people I spoke to while signing the petition said they'd been the victim of some form of attack in the underpasses over the years."

Betty Milton, chairwoman of Sighthill, Broomhouse and Parkhead Community Council, told the meeting: "I know old people who get on the bus on the north carriageway and take it all the way to Riccarton and back round to get to the other side of Calder Road, especially in the dark."

The meeting also heard from a teacher at Murrayburn Primary School who told how her children were "absolutely terrified" to go near the underpasses.

The decision to close Westburn Primary in Wester Hailes and disperse the children to either Murrayburn, Sighthill or Canal View primaries is also set to increase the number of young children using the underpasses.

Almost half the people who attended the meeting said they preferred to brave the busy dual-carriageway - which is also pedestrian accident hotspot - while around a dozen said they would make the half-an-hour round trip on the bus.

The Evening News reported earlier this year that 26 serious crimes had occurred in the space of just three-and-a-half months. Only a third of these crimes went on to be solved.

The city council's transport leader Cllr Phil Wheeler said: "We consider all requests from councillors and members of the public for the installation of pedestrian crossings - basing our decision on a number of factors, including volume of traffic, frequency of accidents and, of course, public safety."