Attendees: Gavin Clark Chair, Rachel Martin, Laurie Rominger
Apologies: Fiona McDonald
Contact with Aberdeen City Council
- Liaison meeting with council in January – went very well. We’ve received a progress report listing all the issues we’ve raised but we haven’t yet had time to go through it. Both Gavin and Rachel find the meetings very useful. Although progress is almost always much slower than we would want, the comparison with our relationship with ACC at times in the past is nevertheless quite marked.
- ACTUP (City Transport Users Partnership) – recent meeting was mostly discussing South College Street Phase 2 proposals. It was mostly them presenting the four options. Rachel asks how others at the meeting viewed the four options? Gavin says most agreed that having no right turn into Torry would make it difficult for people living there. There was also some discussion about traffic under the Wellington bridge. Gavin has sent off the official consultation response. Rachel to upload it to the website.
- ACC/ACF cycle map revisions – previously a joint production between the council and ACF but recent updates/revisions have been done without any input from us. We pointed that out and they’ve now asked us for input for the next update. We’ll ask some members who likely use paper maps whether they have any input – Francesco and Martin? Not clear how big a revision this will be.
Public liability insurance renewal
Due this week – 1st March. £283. Gavin will ask Clare make payment to renew.
Activities and events
- Climate week activism – discussion organised by Aberdeen Climate Action to discuss ideas. Gavin is participating.
- RGU active travel discussion meeting – the new campus cycling officer got in touch asking whether Gavin is willing to participate in a discussion panel event. Gavin has said yes in principle. Gavin also thinks it would be good if we could double up so that someone else’s perspective is put across too. We don’t yet have details for the event but Gavin will canvass a handful of others who might be willing / able to take part.
- Lots of great feedback about our in-person meeting last September. Our ‘Best in Cycling’ awards ceremony was also great back in 2019 so we’re considering launching the awards again. Rachel read through the categories we had last time – we could keep them the same – best business, best new cycle infrastructure, best public cycle parking, cycle hero, the cycle raspberry, best employer, best school. Aim to launch in June and leave it open throughout the summer with plans for a meeting in September.
- Rachel is keen to do another litter pick over the summer. Laurie suggests we do it in partnership with another organisation. Rachel says it gives us good publicity as doing something good but definitely worth sharing with other organisations to spread the word. Laurie says she feels cycling is forgotten by environmental organisations – it’s all about electric cars – what about cycling? Rachel says it would be on us to organise something for Climate Week North East.
WACI (Walking and Cycling Index)
Next month is the meeting to present Aberdeen’s walking and cycling figures which Rachel and Gavin have been invited to attend. It is almost 2 years since this was first launched so it will be interesting to see if the data shows any change in levels of cycling, and what if any ‘spin’ is put on it.
Any other business
We posted a recent Spotlight on Cyclists and have another one in the pipeline. Rachel suggests we contact Nico to get his take on cycling in Norway. Gavin has had contact from a former member who moved to France who may be willing to contribute.
Rachel saw the Craigshaw Drive cycle path last Friday and it looks to be nearly done. Unfortunately the kerb angle between the cycle path and the pavement is 90 degrees rather than 45 – so apparently not in accordance with Cycling by Design. There was some discussion around the rationale for such a big investment in this location, which still seems incongruous. The worst aspect is that it doesn’t link to any other cycle infrastructure on Wellington Rd, although we have to hope that will change eventually. We feel a cycle track connecting the Shell path to Wellington Rd via Abbotswell Rd would have been much more useful, but the choice of Craigshaw Drive was presumably driven by the presence of Shell’s Wellington Rd office at the time, subsequently vacated.
Laurie asks whether there’s any update on the feedback we gave regarding South College Street and the removal of bollards at the bottom of Wellington Brae into the parking area behind the block of flats. Gavin wrote to the manager of the building late last year but only got an auto-reply, and has since sent a reminder. Gavin also raised it during the ACTUP discussion about South College St. Initial view back from officers is that this is a planning enforcement issue. We’ll raise it again at the next council meeting.
The no-idling banner is about to go out on loan again this time to Ferryhill Primary School. They’ve just written an active travel plan and it will be dropped off there one day this week.
Gavin gave a deputation last month to the Council meeting who were receiving an update about the plans for Union St. There was a lot of disagreement, with Conservatives seemingly not wanting any cycle lanes and Labour wanting full pedestrianisation (i.e. removal of buses from the central section). After a long discussion mostly going over the same issues which have been discussed in the past, the update was voted through by SNP and LibDem councillors in majority.
There was also some coverage in the P&J, firstly about the wider issue and a second focussing on pedestrian-cyclist safety and quoting from Gavin’s response to questions at the time of his deputation, but unfortunately focussing on one individual aspect only.
Next meeting 26th March 2024.
Aberdeen Cycle Forum 