Stone setts add significant historic and cultural value to the streets of Edinburgh and are an important feature of our cityscape.
The City of Edinburgh Council has a duty to protect the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site, Conservation Areas and other historic parts of the city. This protection includes the setting of Edinburgh’s many listed buildings, where setted streets are an integral part of their identity and authenticity.
When they are not properly maintained, setted streets can have implications for walking, cycling and driving. Damaged setts are often replaced with alternative materials like tarmac as a temporary solution. This can result in an unsightly and uncared for appearance.
We are working in partnership with Edinburgh World Heritage and Historic Environment Scotland to develop a strategy for the protection and maintenance of setted streets.
Have your say
To help inform the strategy we’d like to know what you think about setted streets and their value to the city. We are also interested to know what issues you think setted streets can have on our movement.
You can give us your views until Wednesday 11 October 2017.
Planning Edinburgh 
Please note that the dangers and discomfort for pedestrians are not just about whether the setts are badly laid or not, as you state in the article. Equally or more important is the type of setts used. Flat-topped (as at the junction of High Street and George IV bridge) work well in my experience, but round-topped are awkward and can be painful for people with certain walking problems/injuries (as with a friend of mine) or in wheelchairs. Also can be very problematic for non-mountain bicycles. They are a serious road safety hazard because the attention of the cyclist and/or walker has to be on the road surface as much as on the traffic, and this has resulted in serious injury (as recorded by the police).
Thank you for your comment. If there are any specific issues you have with setts, you can report these at http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/roadproblem. Also, feel free to leave your comments within your survey submission. Kind regards, Rachel.
Thanks but it is not a ‘specific issue’ such as some badly-laid setts somewhere.
It is the ‘general’ issue of round-topped v flat-topped setts. i.e. whether or not the road or footway surface is level.