Campaign group Re-bridge the Gap call for emails to Edinburgh Council's Head of Transport and Council Leader demanding that an important and historic pedestrian link across the Waverley Valley be re-instated.

THE CONTEXT
When the current Waverley Station was developed in the 1890s, a footbridge was built connecting Jeffrey Street and Calton Road, running through the station roof. This was built to maintain a route which had existed for hundreds of years. We are currently running a campaign to reinstate this important and historic route between the Old Town and Leith Walk. This would provide a vital pedestrian link across the Waverley Valley. Currently, there is a large gap in pedestrian routes across the valley east of Waverley Bridge.

THE ISSUE
A historic route between the top of the Canongate and Calton Road existed as a road called Leith Wynd for hundreds of years. When the road was closed for the Waverley Station redevelopment in the 1890s, this route was maintained by building a footbridge connecting Jeffrey Street and Calton Road through the station roof. However, in the mid-1950s British Rail 'temporarily' closed the footbridge. For most of its history, this link was the primary route from Edinburgh to Leith. Now Network Rail proposes to remove parts of the footbridge and seal off the remaining section when they replace the roof of Waverley Station.

Now is the perfect time to fully re-instate this historic and important link connecting the Old Town with the top of Leith Walk. The Council says that it is committed to making Edinburgh a world-class city for pedestrians, and this is a valuable opportunity to deliver on that vision. There are no good, convenient links from the top of the Canongate across the Waverley valley, and residents should have better access to Leith Walk and, in the future, the redeveloped St James Centre.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Email Cllrs. Gordon Mackenzie (Edinburgh Head of Transport) and Jenny Dawe (Edinburgh Council Leader). See our website for the main points and contact details, or use the sample text below.
• Find out more about the issue on our website
• Add your name to our supporters page
• Join our mailing list
• Let your friends, family and colleagues know about the action by forwarding this email.

Thank you for taking time to do the action!

SAMPLE EMAIL

To: Gordon.F.Mackenzie@edinburgh.gov.uk
cc: Jenny.Dawe@edinburgh.gov.uk, Robert.Aldridge@edinburgh.gov.uk

Subject: Re-instate important pedestrian link

Re. Historic pedestrian route between the Old Town and Leith Walk

Dear Cllr Mackenie
With the restoration of Waverley Station's roof, now is the ideal time to re-instate the full footbridge connecting Jeffrey Street and Calton Road:

• Re-instating the footbridge would provide an important pedestrian route between the Old Town and Leith Walk, one that had existed for many hundreds of years before the 1950s.
• Improving pedestrian routes in the city is a key aim of the City of Edinburgh Council, and this is a valuable opportunity to deliver on that and make Edinburgh a world-class city for walking.
• The footbridge was only 'temporarily' closed in the 1950s by British Rail.

The footbridge does not need to follow the precise path of the previous footbridge, but should link to roughly the same points on Jeffrey Street and Calton Road. I encourage you to work with Network Rail to reach a solution that will see this important and historic route re-instated when the restoration of Waverley Station takes place. Doing it at the same time would minimise costs and hassle, especially as Network Rail currently plans to seal off the remaining footbridge section in Waverley Station's roof.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,