Roseburn Path: The battle over whether an old Edinburgh rail line should become a tram route

The Roseburn Path in the west of Edinburgh is part of a web of off-road routes through the capital which were created from former railway lines closed 60 years ago.

But the prospect of the iron road returning in the form of a tram line has ignited a campaign to save what supporters cherish as a “nature network”, which is adorned this month with lush vegetation, birdsong and the scent of wild garlic.

The City of Edinburgh Council is to seek views on whether a planned new north-south tram route between Granton and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and beyond should use the path or run along Orchard Brae to the east instead.

Council officials recommended the Roseburn option in February, but councillors decided to take a neutral stance pending the results of a public consultation later this year. The council stressed a path would be retained beside the tram line, but opponents questioned whether that would be either feasible, or attractive to users.

Backers of the Roseburn option argued that it will enable trams to run past the Western General, the city’s other major hospital, with reduced journey times by avoiding congested traffic corridors.

The route also has legislative approval from the Scottish Parliament in 2006 as part of a circular tram line, the northern half of which between Roseburn and Newhaven was later shelved. However, the Save the Roseburn Path campaign, which was formed to fight the new plans, described them as “complete nonsense”.

Tom Bird, a spokesperson for the group, said: “There is no good reason to do it and a mountain of reasons against it.”

The secondary school maths teacher said building a tram route on the path failed the council’s climate change, active travel, environmental and health ambitions.

He said: "The council’s own plans and priorities should preclude this. You’ve got the active travel plan, which calls for an increase in the number of people cycling, and the biodiversity action plan, which specifically says that soils and vegetation and trees [like those on the path] could play a 30 per cent emissions reduction role when it comes to 2030 and net zero.

"There would be space for a tram line and path theoretically, but we don’t have any guarantees of anything at this stage. All we know is that cyclists will be discouraged.

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"We’ve spoken to a civil engineer who disagrees the two can co-exist as some of the bridges over the path are pretty narrow. Also, people need this path – for wellbeing, being in nature. It’s quite a calm, quiet space away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and that is de-stressing and good for mental health.

"Nature needs this path as well – there are birds, badgers, foxes and bats call this their home – it’s part of Edinburgh’s nature network. To get rid of the path would permanently displace all that wildlife and would set us back massively in terms of net zero."

The Edinburgh group of the Scottish Liberal Democrats is also fighting the plans.

It said: “The path is a well-used and much-loved green corridor running through the west of Edinburgh.

“It would be a travesty for such a major active travel route and important part of our natural environment to be lost for the tram extension.”

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But rail campaigners have stressed the wider benefits to the city of the Roseburn option, which had always been earmarked for public transport use.

Lawrence Marshall, who chairs the Capital Rail Action Group, said: "There’s all sort of advantages to the tram coming this way. Trams are only a means to an end, and the end is that people move around the city more freely and quickly than has been the case for decades.

"This is an old railway line, and such old routes, which were tarmacked for cyclists, were designated for public transport use in the future. A tram line is quite disruptive to construct, so to build it on this route would be less disruptive to the city than across Dean Bridge and down Orchard Brae.

"It will be a lot cheaper because there won’t be all the utilities – such as gas, electricity, water – to dig out and divert, and this line will be quicker for the tram.”

He added: "At night, when the path is not so user-friendly to cyclists, even though it’s lit up, the presence of trams might be an addition to the safety of cyclists."

Mr Marshall was backed by former city council transport convener and north Edinburgh resident Lesley Hinds.

She said: “The Orchard Brae option seemed to come out of the blue and has no approval as yet from Scottish Parliament and the council.

"It would cause massive disruption to one of the key approaches to Edinburgh, over the Dean Bridge, which is almost 200 years old. I’m not aware of any serious assessment having been made of the massive costs and disruption that would ensue.”

City council transport convener Scott Arthur said the new tram line showed it was “serious about meeting its climate obligations and also cutting congestion”.

The Labour councillor said: "We are committed to looking at all the benefits of both routes – the costs, journey times, carbon invested in building and operation, patronage and operational costs. We will put all that to the public and see what they think and bring that into the decision-making process.

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"Both routes have a number of benefits, but the key one for the Roseburn Path for me is the connection to the Western General Hospital. It means we can get a good connection down Telford Road to the hospital and that means people coming from West Lothian can leave their car at the park and ride and get the tram all the way into the hospital.

"If we use Orchard Brae, they’d have to get the tram into the city centre, change trams and come back out. So that’s longer journey times and makes people less likely to use public transport to the hospital.”

Mr Arthur admitted that retaining a cycle and walking path on either route was “probably the most challenging aspect”.

However, he pledged: "If the tram does go down the Roseburn Path, as part of the consultation we have committed to having good-quality walking and cycling alongside the tram. It’s not that the walking and cycling route here has been lost, it’s just that we are going to put a tram alongside it. But that will come at a cost, of course."