Edinburgh residents fume at decision to asphalt historic city centre street

Edinburgh residents have slammed a decision to tarmac a historic city centre road.

Workers were seen laying the tarmac over cobbled stones on Frederick Street on Sunday afternoon. One local resident said it looks 'awful'.

It's understood the work is part of a general road maintenance project.

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One resident, who lives in the centre, told us: "Edinburgh Council have just tarmac’d the entire of Fredrick street over the hundreds of years old cobbles. Looks awful!"

Warning of closures due to the works, Edinburgh Council said: "City centre south east, Frederick Street between George Street and Queen Street.

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"Road and ironwork repairs, road closed."

This comes amid plans for developing the streets crossing George Street. These include widening the pavements and granite setts for the road.

An Edinburgh Council site states: "The road will have granite setts and be narrowed to two lanes to allow for widened pavements.

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"Pavements are upgraded in natural Yorkstone slabs. Parallel parking spaces for taxis, residents and pay and display are shown in laybys, also shown in granite setts."

Transport and Environment Convener, Councillor Stephen Jenkinson said: "Following an inspection of the carriageway which revealed defects, we’ve put in a temporary running surface over the top of the existing setts. This is to ensure the carriageway is safe for all road users. This temporary measure will ultimately be replaced with granite setts."