Cllr Caldwell pushes for Powderhall path on old railway line

22 Apr 2026

Leith Walk Lib Dem Councillor Jack Caldwell tabled a series of questions to get updates on the progress of the assessment to convert the old Powderhall Waste Transfer Station (abandoned) railway line into a walking, wheeling and cycling path, which could unlock active travel opportunities across North East Edinburgh.

Negotiations are continuing between the City of Edinburgh Council and Network Rail Scotland, and assessments have taken place on the bridges down the route.

Although the Powderhall Path (the old railway line between Abbeyhill and St Mark's Park) was not directly successful in a recent Scottish Government funding bid, the Council are liaising with the Scottish Government to contribute underspend towards developing a new walking and cycling path.

However it seems we are a while away until any spade can hit the ground.

Question on 5th February 2026

The City Mobility Plan Capital Investment Programme
Update 2025/26 report (September 2025) stated that 22 proposals, including the Powderhall Railway Path, had been submitted by the City of Edinburgh Council into the Scottish Government’s ATIF Tier 2 Design funding stream.

Can the Convener please confirm:

Question 1: If a funding decision has been made and if any of these 22
proposals successfully received funding?

Answer 1: The Council submitted bids for 2025/26 ATIF Tier 2 design funding to Transport Scotland in January 2025. Tier 2 design funding can cover up to 100% of the design costs incurred on a project and the Council submitted bids for the full estimated values, at that time, of the anticipated design costs in 2025/26 for 22 separate projects. The combined value of these bids was approximately £4.0 million.

In September 2025, Transport Scotland informally intimated its intention to award 2025/26 ATIF Tier 2 design funding of up to £4.0 million in total to the Council. However, recognising that 8 months had passed since the funding bids were originally submitted, and that circumstances relating to individual projects might have altered in the interim period, Transport Scotland offered the Council the
opportunity to revisit the amounts of funding originally requested for each individual project, while remaining within the original total sum requested of £4.0 million.

Revised allocations of funding, reflecting updated estimates of the anticipated design costs for each scheme in 2025/26, were subsequently agreed with Transport Scotland for 18 projects, to a total value of £3.995 million.

These awards were formally confirmed by Transport Scotland on 2 October 2025. An update on the design funding awards, along with an additional ATIF Tier 2 construction funding award of £2.24 million which was confirmed on 7 October, was provided to all Transport and Environment Committee members by email on 23 October. The four projects that were not awarded ATIF Tier 2 design funding for 2025/26 were CCT – Lothian Road, Cameron Toll to Bioquarter, Granton Liveable Neighbourhood and
Powderhall Railway.

Question 2: If a decision has not been taken by the Scottish Government, when will a decision be made, and when will this next be reported to the Transport and Environment Committee?

Answer 2: N/A

Question 3: What additional or alternate avenues of external funding are being sought for the 22 proposals?

Answer 3: Design work has continued to be progressed on all of the projects for which bids were originally submitted in January 2025, except for CCT – Lothian Road. Design work for this project has been temporarily paused during 2025/26, due to there being insufficient staff resource available to undertake its project management. Subject to funding, it is intended to resume design work on the project in 2026/27.

Ongoing reviews of costs incurred to date for each funded project now indicate that there will be some underspend of the total sum awarded, across the 18 projects.

The Council is therefore currently in discussions with Transport Scotland about redirecting the projected
underspend on these 18 projects towards costs incurred on the other three projects that were not funded.Page 13

Any remaining costs for these projects will be met from the 2025/26 ATIF Tier 1 grant award and/or Council Capital funding allocated towards the delivery of the City Mobility Plan Capital Investment Programme (CMP CIP).

In the case of the Powderhall Railway project, the position set out in the CMP CIP is to initially proceed with land negotiations and related work only, with the aim of moving towards a project that is deliverable in a reasonable/
predictable timescale. Given this, costs incurred on the project in 2025/26 are anticipated to be relatively minor (c.£10,000).

Question on 19th March 2026

Question:

Can the Convener please provide an update on negotiations
between the City of Edinburgh Council and Network Rail to
try and create this new active travel route?

Answer: The Council has been in discussions with Network Rail for some time around the potential creation of a new active travel route along the former Powderhall Railway line.

As part of this, work has recently commenced on assessing the condition of existing structures along the route. In late January, the Council received detailed reports from Network Rail for structures that it inspects on an ongoing basis. This is the initial stage in ascertaining the costs associated with bringing these structures up to an ‘adoptable standard’.

However, further inspections and detailed costing of repairs/liabilities will be required, to ascertain the overall value of the land required for the active travel route and inform forthcoming negotiations with Network Rail.

Discussions with Network Rail are ongoing.