Elected members on the Transport & Environment Committee today voted 9:2 to keep St James Square for pedestrians only.
The two members who voted to back the W Hotel's request for limited access to the front of its premises by a limited number of strictly controlled taxis and minibuses entering via Elder Street were Councillors Whyte and Munro (Con).
Vehicular access will still be possible via the underground car park at the rear.
The Committee's decision ran counter to advice by officials here, but officers and members were confident that the Council as Roads Authority had every right to decide.
A video recording of today's meeting (see Item 7b) will be available from the Council's webcast archive here soon.
Spurtle will provide a fuller article in Issue 343 (published on 1 September). For now, we include below the comments thread which followed our breaking news of the decision on social-media platform X this afternoon.
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