Latest news with #Jenkinson
Scotsman
19 hours ago
- Automotive
- Scotsman
The £20 car engine fine that has been dished out just once in over 3 years and is angering campaigners
Only one motorist has been penalised in more than three years with this £20 fine. Sign up for the latest news and analysis about Scottish transport Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Calls for an increase in the £20 fine for drivers leaving their engines running while parked have been rejected by ministers, angering backers of tougher measures. The decision came despite a coalition of 20 environmental, health and transport organisations and unions seeking a four-fold rise in penalties to £80 per fine. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Motorists can be fined for leaving their engines idle if they refuse to switch off | Contributed They said only one fine had been issued in Scotland over the past three-and-a-half years despite 1,158 complaints to more than 20 councils. Fines were introduced in 2003, but drivers can only be charged if they refuse to switch off their engine when asked. City of Edinburgh transport convener Stephen Jenkinson, who was among those calling for an increased deterrent, said fines were too low to change motorists' behaviour. He said: 'At this stage, the Scottish Government is not looking to allow local authorities to increase the charge, and that's a problem. The fine is not sufficient to make the behavioural change that we are looking to see. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'From the Scottish Government's perspective, when people are asked, they will change their behaviour. But I've not seen any evidence to back that up. 'You always need a little bit of stick to go with your carrot, and the fact the fine has never increased since it was introduced shows it's not really a priority for the Scottish Government.' Mr Jenkinson said enforcement was made more difficult because it could only be done by council officials with other duties like dog fouling - not by parking attendants who deal with problem parking. However, he said the council would redouble efforts to crack down on vehicle idling around schools. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A poster for the Engine Off, Every Stop campaign in London | Contributed The convener said: 'The evidence would suggest children are more affected by particulate matter from idling vehicles' emissions than adults because they are closer to it as they are lower down, and their lungs aren't developed sufficiently to handle the fumes. 'We do need to have a focus on that area. I need to encourage officers to ensure they are tackling vehicle idling predominately at our education estates as a priority.' David Hunter, convener of the Edinburgh group of pedestrian campaigners Living Streets, said: "If the Scottish Government's concern about air quality justifies the creation of low emission zones, it makes no sense whatsoever to freeze penalties for engine idling for decades. 'Penalties must be sufficiently high to make it economic for councils to enforce legislation.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad John Adeolu, community project manager of the Edinburgh Air Pollution Programme, said: 'While increasing the fine level could help deter this behaviour, it will not make the difference we need unless it is backed by visible and consistent enforcement.' Scottish Greens MSP Mark Ruskell said: 'Increasing the fine for idling is a positive step towards reducing transport emissions, but it must be part of action plans by councils to drive down pollution, including an expansion of low emission zones.' Net Zero and Energy Secretary Gillian Martin said evidence from councils 'suggest the vast majority of idling drivers switch off their engines when requested and therefore very few fixed penalties are issued'. 'With this being the case, we have no current plans to increase the level of fines for engine idling,' she said.
The Irish Sun
4 days ago
- The Irish Sun
I've looked into minds of Britain's worst killer kids… one 7-year-old proves why some are beyond help & need locking up
LOOKING at the vulnerable seven-year-old dressed in a Harry Potter T-shirt in front of him, it was hard to believe that weeks earlier she'd picked up a knife and severed the finger of her three-year-old half-sibling. As Duncan Harding tried to gently cajole the primary school pupil into a conversation about JK Rowling's wizarding world, she shut down 'like a rabbit in the headlights'. 15 Forensic psychiatrist Dr Duncan Harding works with some of Britain's most twisted child killers Credit: Supplied 15 Scarlett Jenkinson, then 15, was fascinated by serial killers before murdering Brianna Ghey Credit: PA 15 Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham, both, 15, became Britain's youngest double murderers after killing Edwards' mum Elizabeth and younger sister Katie 15 Dr Harding says society can very often be too sympathetic to kids who commit extreme crimes (pictured: Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, who carried out the attack when he was 17) Credit: PA Social workers had called in Dr Harding, a leading forensic psychiatrist, in the hope of helping the youngster who had a troubled, abusive background. 'She was emotionally shut down,' says Harding. 'When you speak to someone who has suffered trauma at a young age, they can choose not to speak or just can't speak, and she was just a traumatised little girl.' Almost five years later, aged 13, that same innocent-looking girl was charged with stabbing an older friend - almost killing her. It came almost as no surprise to Harding, who says society can very often be too sympathetic to kids who commit extreme crimes. He says: 'We have a fantasy as a society that if we have a problem child we can fix them, but I'm not always sure we can. 'This young girl was one of those cases that gets under the skin and stays there. 'Her upbringing was very difficult and there was a lot of generational trauma. 'After severing her victim's finger she was seen by various services and diagnosed with autism. I didn't necessarily agree with that diagnosis. 'Unfortunately a few years later she attempted to kill a friend. So much damage had been done to her as a little girl that she couldn't be rescued. 'SHE WAS PURE LIGHT' I have to defend Bebe's memory like a lioness protecting her cub, Southport stab victim's mum says in 1st TV interview 'By the time she hit her teens her personality was developing in a way that she had no empathy for others. 'She was showing psychopathic tendencies.' 'Child killer epidemic' Harding says Britain is facing a child crime epidemic amid a growing knife problem - and Government figures reveal he is not wrong. In the year ending March 2024, 3,200 knife offences were committed by children and 57 young people under the age of 25 were stabbed to death. Seventeen of them were under the age of 16. 15 Eddie Ratcliffe was said to be a role model pupil, before murdering Brianna Ghey with Jenkinson Credit: PA 15 Described as 'unspeakably wicked', Sarah Davey was 14 when she tortured and murdered a 71-year-old grandmother in Oldham Last July the country was left shocked and sickened by the murders of Dad-of-one Harding, who works with some of Britain's most twisted 'It's scary for our children and I felt so strongly about it, I didn't know whether or not to bring a child into this world." We are stuck in an epidemic of child killing. I daren't look at the news some days... I didn't know whether or not to bring a child into this world Dr Duncan Harding He fears the UK faces more serial killings like the Rudakubana was known to police and social services and had been referred to the Government's Prevent programme three times between 2019 and 2021 due to his interest in terror attacks and school shootings. The teenager, jailed for 52 years in January, was bounced back and forth between various agencies because Prevent found no evidence of a 'fixed terrorist ideology'. Harding says: 'Basically what you've got is a young person with concerns from family and local authorities, but people didn't listen. 'The basic problem was that he was referred to Prevent but didn't fit in their box. By the time he was referred for a third time, Prevent stepped back because mental health services stepped forward. 'What we need is one multi-disciplinary team to deal with troubled children. Sometimes kids with complex needs need a network of professionals 'Unless we get a grip, something like Southport could happen again.' 15 Dr Harding says the UK faces a growing child crime epidemic in the wake of the horrific Southport murders which claimed the life of Bebe King (pictured) Credit: AP 15 Fellow Southport victim Elsie Dot Stancombe Credit: AP 15 Dr Harding fears the UK faces more serial killings like the Southport tragedy because the country doesn't have measures in place to stop child killers. Pictured: Southport victim Alice da Silva Aguiar Credit: PA 15 Axel Rudakubana was known to police and social services and had been referred to the Government's Prevent programme three times between 2019 and 2021 due to his interest in terror attacks and school shootings Credit: PA High risk While sympathetic to many young criminals he deals with, Harding controversially says many need to be locked up - for their own good. He says: 'When I see someone who has committed a heinous act I try to look at the person behind the noise. 'The social situation might be deprivation and all sorts of things go on in life that can cloud a situation, but under that is a human being. 'I hold on to the idea that children are essentially good when they are naive and new to the world. 'You [believe] you can do the work with them to help, but with many children who kill it's not as straightforward as that. You [believe] you can do the work with them to help, but with many children who kill it's not as straightforward as that. It's important to be realistic and realise that children can do really terrible things and essentially be bad people Dr Duncan Harding 'It's important to be realistic and realise that children can do really terrible things and essentially be bad people. 'Having a bad start in life isn't an explanation. It's not enough to say, 'Well they had a terrible start in life'. 'The truth is that, in some cases, young people just need to be in custody, and that might be a terrible thing to say in some people's opinions. 'Some say children shouldn't be incarcerated but they are sometimes so high risk they need to be.' No boundaries 15 Dr Harding believes that Britain's most notorious child killers Mary Bell and Jamie Bulger murderer Jon Venables (left) are natural psychopaths. Pictured right: Robert Thompson Credit: PA:Press Association 15 Two-year-old Jamie Bulger was abducted, tortured and murdered by the two 10-year-old boys Credit: PA:Press Association He believes today's parents struggle to set firm boundaries for their kids - and gives an example of a middle class boy who killed his aunt in a 'temper tantrum' over his mobile phone. The 17-year-old's defence argued he was psychotic - something Harding disagreed with. The case is featured in a new book by the psychiatrist which outlines some of his most serious cases. Harding, who has to anonymise his most high profile cases in his book, says: 'In modern society, the boundaries have kind of been eroded. 'An extreme version of this surrounds identification. If a child at school can identify as a cat, where are we as a society? 'Childhood is complex enough without having boundaries. We need to realise there's a consequence to our behaviours. 'Liam was basically throwing a tantrum after his mobile phone was taken away. He was from a nice background, had a good upbringing, but the boundaries just weren't there. If a child at school can identify as a cat, where are we as a society? Dr Duncan Harding 'Add to that a sense of entitlement and the risk can start to escalate, especially when you go down the path of experimenting with drugs as this teenager had.' While adolescent psychiatry, which featured prominently in the 15 Erin Doherty as a child psychiatrist with Owen Cooper as a teenage killer in Adolescence. Credit: Courtesy of Ben Blackall/Netflix 15 David Bartlam was 14 and obsessed with a Coronation Street serial killer when he murdered mum Jacqueline with a claw hammer Credit: Caters News Agency He believes that Britain's most notorious child killers Mary Bell and Jamie Bulger murderer Jon Venables are natural psychopaths, showing no remorse or guilt for their savagery. Bell was just 10 when she strangled Martin Brown, four, and three-year-old Brian Howe to death before mutilating them in Scotswood, Newcastle in 1968. Venables was the same age as Bell when he and The pair served eight years in secure children's units and were given lifelong anonymity in 2001. But Venables has re-offended four times. He has twice been jailed for possession of child abuse images and also received cautions for affray and possession of cocaine. Harding says: 'There was sadism involved in these cases and if we want an indication of what children can be capable of, there we have it. 'We wouldn't diagnose a child with a personality disorder but I've come across young kids in which you can see the signs of psychopathy, killing animals at an early age in a very sadistic way for example.' Britain's worst killer kids Sarah Davey Teenager Sarah Davey, from Failsworth in Manchester, was just 14 when she and a friend sadistically tortured grandmother Lily Lilley, 71, before killing her in 1998. They battered her body and hit her so hard her false teeth were forced down her throat, then shoved her lifeless body in a wheelie bin and dragged it to a nearby canal to dump it. Davey was locked up indefinitely in 1999, but released in March 2024 after going up before the parole board. She has been freed eight times since 2013 but each time has broken her parole conditions. Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe , both 15, lured to a park near Warrington before they murdered her in a frenzied attack. Tragic Brianna was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife and the cruel pair both . Jenkinson, who was obssessed with serial killers and knives, was caged for a minimum of 22 years and Ratcliffe, a loner but model student before the killing, for a minimum of 20 years. Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham Teen sweethearts Edward and Markham, both aged 14 at the time, stabbed Kim's mum Elizabeth Edwards, 49, and her younger sister Katie, 13, as they slept. The pair were dubbed the ' Twilight Killers ' after it emerged they ate tea cakes and ice cream and watched the vampire movie after the murders. Markham became one of the youngest ever double murderers after admitting two counts of murder at Nottingham Crown Court. Edwards admitted manslaughter but denied murdering the church-going dinner lady and her daughter due to her mental condition. But the court heard she was the "driver" behind a "cold and brutal" plot to kill Elizabeth and Katie. The only member of the family Jon Venables and Robert Thompson Their horrifying crime, in 1993, shocked the nation when two-year-old Jamie Bulger was abducted, tortured and murdered by the evil boys before being dumped on railway tracks. Both were eventually released from prison under new identities, however Venables is now back inside for possession of indecent images of children. Venables' Snapchat Killers In December 2014 two teenagers – known later in court as Girl A and Girl B – tortured and murdered loner Angela Wrightson, filming the attack on their phones. The teens, who were aged 13 and 14 years old at the time, successfully won a bid to have lifelong anonymity, like the Venables and Thompson, in 2021. Dubbed the Snapchat killers the youngsters sent a selfie from inside a police van after killing tragic Angela, 39, during a horrific five-hour-long attack. They were convicted of Angela's murder and jailed for a minimum of 15 years. Will Cornick Schoolboy Will murdered his teacher Ann Maguire, 61, stabbing her seven times as she taught a class at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds when he was 15. After stabbing the teacher to death, he callously boasted: 'I couldn't give a s***' . Cornick said he had a 'sense of pride' after the classroom murder, and added: 'Everything I've done is fine and dandy.' He won't be eligible for parole before 2034. Daniel Bartlam Daniel Bartlam was just 14 when he beat his mum to death in a hammer attack copied from Coronation Street. The teen repeatedly battered Jacqueline's face and head before setting her body alight. Schoolboy Bartlam was obsessed with TV soap murder plots and grisly horror movies. Sharon Carr Carr was aged just 12 when she stabbed 18-year-old hairdresser Katie Rackliff 32 times. The murder went unsolved for several years, as cops were looking for an adult assailant rather than a child. Some of the knife thrusts went clean through Katie's body and diaries seized by police were full of sickening boasts about the murder. Carr was dubbed the "devils daughter" for her lack of remorse in the attack. She was convicted of the murder in 1997 and handed a sentence of at least 12 years. Her last bid for freedom in 2023 was turned down because she was "still violent". Society 'too soft' Harding says that society is often too soft on kids who offend. He says: 'I once went to see a kid about 14 who had murdered another child by cornering him with a gang. 'The kid was drinking milkshake and, in a case of mistaken identity, the offender stabbed him in the heart with a flick knife. 'The CCTV footage was so clear that his co-defendants weren't charged as they tried to pull the perpetrator back from his victim. 'He was found guilty of murder and when I went to assess him, for the first time in his life he had started reading… crime novels, which probably weren't the best, but he was reading at least. 'There was a handwritten note to me from the youth offending service, asking me to take trauma into account. 'When I looked at the case, this teenager's violence had been escalating yet he was put back into the community each time. 'Before the murder he had a section 18 offence for wounding. Childhood is complex enough without having boundaries. We need to realise there's a consequence to our behaviours Dr Duncan Harding 'He told me that, even with his GPS police tag on, he would still deal drugs in the stairwell of his council estate. 'If he had gone back into his original environment, back into his gang, he wouldn't get any help. 'What he would actually benefit from was a period in custody, and that's why we have to sometimes lock kids up. 'There is some argument that the age of criminal responsibility should be moved from 10 to 12, but I'd urge people to consider what would have happened in cases like Jamie Bulger if this is moved? 'We have to have a starting point that children are good but, in order for that to be true, we have to also face the fact that some kids can, maybe through no fault of their own, be sadistic and want to hurt other children. 'I have gone into every case with neutrality but the truth is I've come across situations where we've just got to be realistic with what we're faced with.' The Criminal Mind: From Broadmoor to the Old Bailey. True Stories from a Forensic Psychiatrist's Handbook by Dr Duncan Harding is published by Penguin Michael Joseph, paperback £10.99. 15 Dr Duncan Harding's book is out now
Scotsman
4 days ago
- General
- Scotsman
Edinburgh council targets litter, dog fouling, fly-tipping and graffiti in ward-by-ward 'Pride in our City' campaign
More than 60 tonnes of waste have already been collected in a new blitz on litter, fly-tipping, dog fouling, graffiti and chewing gum in Edinburgh. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The "Pride in our City" campaign involves dedicated council teams working to clean up the city, ward by ward. And 15 extra staff have been taken on to give more power to the project. Transport and environment convener Stephen Jenkinson said the new drive had got under way in April in Leith Walk ward, where they collected 39 tonnes of litter and dumped items, as well as dealing with graffiti, weeds and chewing gum. Graffiti removal is being stepped up | supplied Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad And after that they moved on to Leith ward and collected another 23 tonnes of waste. Cllr Jenkinson said: 'The idea is that we will be having a real focus on individual council wards and the project will roll out over a period of time from council ward to council ward. 'Teams, who will be focused in on a ward, will be looking to tackle issues like dog fouling, fly tipping, focusing on weeds, graffiti and general littering. 'The project and the way it's being rolled out has been well received by residents. And there is a little bit of competition between councillors about which ward is next.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It comes as the latest figures for street cleanliness - assessed by Keep Scotland Beautiful - gave Edinburgh a score of 89.2 per cent for 2024/25, a slight dip from the previous year's 90.6 per cent, but an improvement on the 2022/23 score of 86.3 per cent and 82.2 per cent in 2021/22. Cllr Jenkinson said that Edinburgh ranked third out of eight comparable local authorities in Scotland for street cleansing. The Capital's 89.2 per cent score was below the national average of 91.7 per cent, but above the 87.5 per cent average for the benchmarking group of similar local authorities. 'There has been quite a significant improvement since 2021 ,when we were just over 82 per cent and our scores are almost back to where we were before Covid. 'There is still quite a lot of work to do - it's not a problem that's going to be solved overnight, but we will continue to invest in this area.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The council has doubled the number of specially-equipped graffiti vehicles from two to four. And bringing that work back in house has reduced the tie between graffiti being reported and it being removed. And it has bought a specialist machine which can remove graffiti from sensitive stone as well as removing chewing gum from pavements thanks to a Chewing Gum Task Force grant. Cllr Jenkinson said: 'We're doing our part to try and keep our capital city looking at its best for both residents and visitors. "And we're trying to encourage people not only to put their litter in the bin responsibly but if necessary take it away with them rather than throwing it in the street. "We're also working with residents to encourage them to recycle them more, but we're highlighting the benefits of the special uplift programme for bulkier items.'
Scotsman
5 days ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Cost of Edinburgh's George Street revamp 'will come down rather than go up' says transport convener Stephen Jenkinson
The cost of revamping Edinburgh's George Street - turning it into a pedestrian and cycle-friendly zone - is set to come down rather than go up, city transport convener Stephen Jenkinson has declared. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Councillors will be asked next week to back the full scheme for renewal of what Cllr Jenkinson called one of Scotland's most important streets - including trees, stone setts and upmarket benches - while keeping options open for savings. The revamp will see parking down the centre of the street removed, the central carriageway turned into a 'cycle street' and general traffic banned between 10.30am and 7pm, Monday to Saturday, and between 12.30pm and 7pm on Sundays. The full revamp of George Street would see the current parking down the centre of the street removed, buses rerouted, the pavement widened and the carriageway become a 'cycle street' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The project has a three-year timeline, with construction scheduled to start after the Festival in August 2027 and a completion date of August or September 2030. Concerns were previously expressed about how the bill for the project had increased from the original £28m estimate to nearly £40m. But Cllr Jenkinson said the cost had been reduced over the past nine months to just over £35m, as a result of more detailed and accurate costings based on final technical information. He said the cost of diverting utility pipes and cables under the ground - currently estimated at £8.5m - was likely to come down, reducing the price further. 'As we go through the process and start much more detailed conversations with the utility companies I think the costings of the project are more likely to decrease than increase because we will have more accurate figures for how much work is involved." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad And he stamped on reports that the overall cost of the project could rise to £60m. "I've no idea where that figure came from - it didn't come from me, it didn't come from any officers, but that figure is quite obviously false. The costings for George Street are going in one direction - and that's down, not up." Asked why he was so bullish about the cost, he replied: "The reason I would say I'm bullish is because the evidence would suggest the costs have been coming down rather than going up." On utility costs, he said: "Historically those figures get refined and those costings come down rather than go the opposite way." He said on another project one utility company had given the council an initial quote of around £2.5m for moving infrastructure, but when it came to do the work the final bill was £144,000. A report to next week's transport and environment committee proposes two 'do minimum' options for George Street - 'maintenance only' and maintenance plus the removal of parking - should be put on hold. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The full scheme would see the use of natural stone material throughout, including yorkstone slabs on the footway, re-laid traditional setts in the parking areas, whinstone kerbs and setts on the carriageway; premium quality street furniture, raised planters and seating to create 'dwell zones'; eight trees - four at the Charlotte Square end and four at the St Andrew Square end; low-level planting within a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SuDs), linking to the existing drainage system; and a full suite of Hostile Vehicle Measures (HVM) at all junctions. But the report also outlines lesser options, which would cut out certain elements of the full scheme in order to reduce costs. A reduced option, priced at £20.3m, would keep yorkstone setts in the footway and dwell zones, as planned in the full scheme, but use asphalt for the carriageway and central spaces and reclaimed granite setts for the parking areas. There would be a reduced specification for the street furniture and there would be no trees. A basic design - costed at £17.4m - would use asphalt in the carriageway and parking and concrete blocks in the central spaces; there would be no raised planters or trees; standard bins and bike stands would be included; and there would be no Hostile Vehicle mitigation, meaning no measures to prevent traffic entering the area when it is supposed to be excluded. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad And an 'above ground' design - estimated at £13.5m - would focus on above-ground improvements only, seeking to avoid the need for utility diversions. All soft landscapng would be removed; the current central carriageway and roundabout junctions would remain; and all Hostile Vehicle mitigation would be removed; but there would be additional benches. Cllr Jenkinson said the recommendation was for the full scheme, but he said options for changes would be kept open. Using tarmac instead of setts, for example, would save around £1.8m, he said. "We are still moving forward and as we move forward we will clarify and refine as we go. We will make sure we have all the costings for all the various different options and committee will decide as we go through this project how it's going to look. 'My opinion is if a project is worth doing, it's worth doing right. If we got to the stage where we're cutting significant corners, we've got to make sure what we end up with is something we're all proud of and of a quality the people of Edinburgh would expect to see.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Some funding for the project is expected to come from the Visitor Levy which the council plans to introduce, but most of it is likely to be sought from various Scottish Government and Transport Scotland funding channels. And Cllr Jenkinson warned that a reduction in the quality of the project, while it may reduce the cost, may also make it harder to obtain the funding. He said: 'When we're trying to access this external funding, it's a competitive process. There is a finite amount of money we're trying to access for these projects we want to deliver in Edinburgh, but we're competing with other cities also applying for a finite resource. You need to ensure the end outcome is going to be attractive not only for the people who will be the beneficiaries of that investment but also the people who are providing the finance.'
Edinburgh Live
5 days ago
- Business
- Edinburgh Live
Ambitious £35m redevelopment of Edinburgh George Street set to go before councillors
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info An ambitious £35 million redevelopment of George Street is set to go before city councillors for approval. The project was confirmed to still be going ahead at a meeting last month, when it was included in the City Mobility Plan. Now, councillors will be asked to ditch consideration of two 'do minimum' options for the future of the project, and instead endorse the most ambitious version of it. And they'll be asked to sign off on work to get permission to close off streets and other works prepared. Transport Convener and Labour councillor Stephen Jenkinson said: 'I think it's a unique kind of opportunity to do something quite forward thinking. 'Something quite modern and progressive in the centre of a World Heritage Site, in what I would argue is one of the most important streets, not only in Edinburgh but for Scotland as well. 'What we're proposing to do is start the promotion of the statutory process. So this would be doing the behind the scenes work with regards to TROs and the statutory process. 'At the appropriate time, we are able to kick off that process and not delay it further down the line. Under the full version of the plan, George Street would be transformed, with new setts, planters and seating spaces added and eight trees planted. Also, 'hostile vehicle mitigation' – anti-vehicle barriers to stop terror attacks – would be installed, which would be raised and lowered daily to cut off the street from traffic. It has been costed at just over £35 million, with reduced utility relocation costs meaning it can step down from the previously reported £39 million price tag. Funding for the project has not yet been secured, but the bulk of it is expected to come from external grants from the Scottish Government and other bodies. Some could also come from the city's Transient Visitor Levy. Council officers also presented three 'value-engineered' options for the scheme, which could see the trees, some drainage and anti-terrorism barriers removed, as well as the elimination of future-proofing for the street. These versions of the scheme would cost between £13 million and £20 million. However, in a report they will present to councillors next Thursday, officers say that these options could put more financial risk on the council, as they would mean the city could get less external funding. In addition, they say it could cost the city more long-term, both due to the direct cost of installing parts of the project later and due to the impact on businesses of a second closure. Cllr Jenkinson continued: 'George Street is, obviously, a public realm project, it's an active travel project, but it's also, from my perspective, an economic development project as well. 'I think for a project to deliver on all those objectives, I think it ticks many boxes for me as an exciting project to deliver for the city over the next few years.' At next Thursday's Transport and Environment Committee meeting, councillors will also be asked to discard any consideration of two 'do minimum' options previously considered. One of these options was a £10.3 million investment in maintenance on the street, avoiding other changes. Officers said this would not comply with the city's street design guidelines, frustrate local stakeholders who have been invested in the project, and possibly cost the city more than in the other options due to the lack of available external funding. The other option would be a permanent ban on parking throughout George Street, mirroring a trial carried out in 2014. While it would contribute towards the city's emissions reduction targets, and be 'minimal cost', officers said that there was not strong local support for such a move. Cllr Jenkinson said that the project could be scaled back from the full version to one of the 'value engineered' ones if external funding is not as readily available as expected. And, the report says that councillors will be able to reconsider the 'Do Minimum' options at a later date if drawing in funds proves difficult. Councillors will make a decision on the project at the next meeting of the Transport and Environment Committee on Thursday, 26 June, which you can view here.
