The rejection of more parking restrictions in Edinburgh was the right decision, but might only be a temporary reprieve for residents, writes Herald columnist John McLellan

How the world is changing. In a week where the Scottish Government, shorn of pesky Greens, allowed heavy goods vehicles to hurtle to their destinations at 50mph on A roads, Edinburgh councillors have discovered how liberating it can be to oppose more parking restrictions.

Not the blanket restriction for which some might crave, but Portobello traders will be relieved that for once a majority of councillors paid heed to a public consultation in which around 90 per cent of over 2,000 respondents opposed the introduction of parking charges in their area. Ok, not all were from the affected area, but direct marketers can only dream of that kind of return from just 4,500 leaflets.

Perhaps wishing to avoid a repeat of last week’s rammy when Westfield Court residents disrupted a housing committee meeting deciding the fate of their unsavable block of flats in the impossibly tight Dean of Guild room, Tuesday’s Traffic Regulation Orders Sub-Committee was switched to Edinburgh Council’s main debating chamber, so the good people of Portobello could enjoy relative comfort if the discomfort of new parking restrictions was to head their way.

They need not have worried, and the vote reflected the shaky basis on which Labour’s control of the whole authority is based. Under normal circumstances the two Lib Dems and single Conservative would have been expected to back the Labour administration’s position to keep the SNP and Greens........

© Herald Scotland