Text of Engineers open letter in May 2011

Originally dated May 2011 this is the original form of the letter reaising eight points of concern with the project at that time.

The Haymarket hub option, dismissed and disparaged at the time, has now been taken by the Council as a justification for the rump of a tram system with the demise of the dreams for Leith and Newhaven developments.  

release 102- Haymarket Hub, You read it here first -- a year ago

 

 

·         In May last year three independent engineers, concerned at the state of affairs surrounding the Edinburgh Tram Project released an open letter advocating a ‘pause at Haymarket’ as the best option to take the Edinburgh Tram project forward. (click here to see downloadable  PDF) of this release.

 

·         The three engineers Alistair Laing, Derek Shepherd and Alan Welsh, all respected in their fields, acknowledged that using Haymarket to airport as a kind of ‘Son of EARL’ (Edinburgh Airport Rail Link) was not an ideal option—merely the least-worst left to the city.

 

·     

release 102 Haymarket hub, you read it here first --- a year ago

Recent revealations both about the City of Edinburgh Council and the dumping of toxic soil from the btram project on unsuitable sites, and about their plans to transform the Haymarket station into an intermodal traffic 'hub' for Tram, Train, Car, Bus and Taxi were two of eight specific points in an open letter from 3 respected Edinburgh Civil Engineers almost a year ago.

release 101 - Rewriting history before the history has even been written?

Recent articles by people associated with the Edinburgh Tram Project seem to be rewriting the history of the project before it has been written impartially.

Residents battling to make clear the city wide serious effects, still not generally widely known, of a project whose inhgerent flaws make these effects inescapable, are obviously keen to not allow such 'mea ex-culpa's to stand unchallenged.

This article contains a rebuttal letter, also published in the same paper as the original article in question, this one by Donald Anderson, former leader of the Council, which corrects some of the so

Rewriting history before the history has even been written?

One of the residents group's letter to the Scotsman after an aricle published on 2nd April 2012 by Donald Anderson, ex-council leader at the time of the development of the concept of the Edinburgh Tram Network.

Council staff 'likely to face charges' according to former Council leader

The link below connect to a story in the Scotsman 07-04-2012 about the ongoing Police investigation into alleged fraud within the City Council's Property Repair Service.

While not connected to the Tram Project it links to the general concerns over systemic governance failures within the Council that have allowed this situation, and the mismanagement of the tram project, to happen without repsonsioble oversight .

http://www.scotsman.com/news/edinburgh-council-staff-likely-to-face-charges-in-city-repairs-scandal-1-2221253

release 98a--The Good news----and the bad news

 

The good news is that Edinburgh Council are now releasing the data but ---- the bad news is they’re still not calculating it correctly.

 

 

This picture shows the plain truth of the way traffic drives down Great Stuart Street --- anyone who knows the street, or takes the time to go there and watch the traffic for 5 minutes will see this is the fact.

 

The picture shows in the close up circle a Passive Diffusion Tube measuring pollution, attached to the street sign pole shown by the small arrow.

 

It shows a line of vehicles moving down the centre of the carriageway—the traffic flow

The Good News --- and the Bad News

Although the council fought long and hard against accepting their air pollution levels were being under estimated in their calculations, they eventually have started doing them differently---but they are still not right.  Pollution is still not being correctly calculated and even the higher figures are still under reporting the true level.

Slide showing the canyon effect and highlighting basement well areas

This slide shows the differences between Princes Street and Great Stuart Street.  One a wide thoroughfare open along one side along Princes Street Gardens, that allows pollution to escape down the slope and disipate and where people typical visit less that 1X3, 3 hours a week or 150 a year...and Great Stuart Street where people live 15X7 ,105 hours a week or 5,460 a year.

Meaning people in Great Stuart Street (and many other streets across the city) are exposed to Princes Street levels of pollution, or greater, for a ratio of  1:36 in terms of time exposed.

A slide showing the canyon effect

This slide shows the diffrences between Princes Street and Great Stuart Street.  One a wide thoroughfare open along one side along Princes Street Gardens, that allows pollution to escape down the slope and disipate and where people typical visit less that 1X3, 3 hours a week or 150 a year...and Great Stuart Street where people live 15X7 ,105 hours a week or 5,460 a year.

Meaning people in Great Stuart Street (and many other streets across the city) are exposed to Princes Street levels of pollution, or greater, for a ratio of  1:36 in terms of time exposed.

Pages