East Lothian Council has successfully secured £1.4m of funding to introduce a series of temporary changes to streets to improve health and wellbeing so that everyone is able to move around their local area safely during the transition through and out of the pandemic crisis.
The initiative, funded by the Scottish Government and managed by Sustrans Scotland, is enabling local authorities to introduce temporary measures to provide more space for people to access businesses in our town centres and to exercise whilst observing current physical distancing health guidelines.
As local shops re-open the temporary changes are focused on protecting public health by providing necessary space for continued observance of physical distancing whilst supporting businesses and their customers.
Measures include the temporary widening of some footways, 20mph limits, some segregated space for cycling and opportunities for businesses to use pavement space for customer queuing. Some parking spaces within town centres may be temporarily removed.
The measures will create space for everyone regardless of ability, whether on foot, bike, wheelchair or using prams and buggies and will support the initial stages of local economic recovery.