Attendees: Gavin Clark (Chair), Rachel Martin, Laurie Rominger, Alastair Cassels, Martin Sharman, Michelle Shortt.
Welcome & introductions
Welcome to a new member with introductions from existing members.
Notes from last meeting (Feb)
Notes are on the website: https://aberdeencycleforum.org.uk/aberdeen-cycle-forum-acf-meeting-27th-february-2024/
Contact with ACC
Liaison meetings and issues list
Gavin described the liaison list and how it had come about, stemming initially from our Make Aberdeen Accessible campaign, but expanding since. Next meeting is on 17th May. We have the opportunity to add items at any point so members should let us know if they’d like us to raise something. Alastair says there’s a junction at Kingsford near AWPR when cycling on path along A944 there’s a side road (Westhill Rd) that comes in with traffic that’s fast and looking right so looking in the wrong direction for bikes. Visibility for cyclists is also very poor because of vegetation and the junction design. The junction approach needs a speed bump or rumble strips and ideally some kind of protected crossing.
Martin asks Alastair whether he’s made a comment on the Council website about the issue too. Alastair says no but he will do it if he knows how. Martin explains how to do it on the Council website.
Alastair asks whether the “hit list” is prioritised in terms of the impact it will have? Gavin says not currently. Martin says he does prioritise the list he has by category and priority. This is something we could aspire to for the main list, categorising for quick / easy wins, bigger fixes, and also planning routes (where a number of fixes would impact on a particular journey).
ACTUP – reports on Union St and Beach
At the most recent monthly meeting there were reports on Union Street and the Beach masterplan. Re., Union Street it was about the construction scheduled to begin at the end of April and the new Market building at around the same time. Construction of the new ‘street scape’ is expected to take around 18 months. The central section of Union Street will be entirely closed except to emergency/delivery vehicles and other essential services. The taxi rank on Back Wynd will remain and they will be able to exit onto Union St for a left turn (i.e. eastbound) only. Gavin raised the point that if they closit for cyclists then very likely cyclists will use it anyway and it would be very difficult or impossible to police. Lots of food delivery riders use this stretch. Pavements will be narrowed due to construction which will go for 18 months. It’s also one lane in one direction only, eastbound. Others present in the ACTUP meeting (including bus reps) also thought it would be better if bikes could continue using the closed section so that they aren’t sent on the same diversion that buses are using.
There was also a quick update on the beach masterplan. We’ve always been interested in understanding how they plan to get cyclists from Union Street to the Beach Boulevard and they had an update on this. They’re still planning a roundabout but the segregated cycle path will be dual direction and on the south side of the roundabout all the way to Links Road. We’re unsure of the timeframe for this. Martin says he’s been past there recently and some construction is going on already with the demolition of the playpark.
Maps meeting
We were invited to meet with the Council about the new cycling map. Gavin and Martin went along – it was quite a good meeting. The council has an ambition to get it online and electronic. They want a decent online resource that will show different types of infrastructure. They weren’t clear on the timeline but it’s going in the right direction. Martin agrees it was quite useful.
Alastair asks whether there’s any update on advising on preferred routes as he found this quite useful when he first started cycling. Is it worth consulting with new members to get info on recommended routes? Gavin says yes there was some discussion in the meeting about how the recommended routes had been created and the council weren’t sure where existing preferred routes had come from but we think they’re out of date so definitely could be updated. They were probably the result of initial ACF input from our predecessors but hadn’t been updated for a long time. The map has a bit too much detail on it. Martin says James is going to map all the infrastructure and it is for cycling organisations to build the picture and give it to the council.
Sustrans Walking & Cycling Index
Gavin and Rachel went to this event at the town house a couple of weeks ago. It was to share the results from the latest statistics on walking and cycling in cities throughout the UK. Aberdeen’s first report was published in 2021 and this is the second. Rachel said the stats were good in the sense that it showed a large proportion of the population want cycling infrastructure. The launch meeting itself had been a bit flat, although there was one inspirational speaker – someone who had recently taken up cycling and found it transformative. After the presentations questions from the floor had been relatively few and not particularly challenging although Gavin had tried on a couple of topics. Gavin had also then had quite a long discussion with a Councillor about the issue of cycling on pavements. We thought it a bit incongruous that if neither the Police nor Community Wardens can solve the issue that we are somehow expected to.
Events & activities
Climate Week events
Climate Week was last week and Gavin represented the cycle forum at two meetings. One was at the University union and had to talk about what it’s like being an activist. The second thing was a seminar about active travel at RGU, organised by the Campus Cycling Officer. There was a panel of about 6 people including Martin and Gavin along with folks from Aberdeenshire Bike Bothy and CTC Grampian. There was a facilitator who asked questions about the type of cycling we all did, barriers to cycling etc. It worked quite well but there were only about 20 people who had turned up.
Social and/or guided rides
We’re developing ideas about this. Martin and Gavin had a sub-meeting about this after the maps meeting to develop ideas. Martin says the key point is to build up several routes – either circular or there and back where they start and finish at the same point. Will talk to CTC about how they do risk assessments and also to make sure we do not overlap with what they’re doing. Gavin says if we start publicising it as a led-ride we have a bit of duty of care to the people who turn up and probably need to be a qualified ride leader. By way of example, Sustrans always have two qualified leaders with each group and ratio of 1:8. We’ve done very informal social rides amongst ourselves in the past with 3 or 4 people. Martin says originally he was intending it to be a weekend but another option is to do something collaboratively with CTC. Sustrans I-bike communities officer was also willing to collaborate with us, but that would probably mean daytime and week-day rides.
Big Issue bikes
We don’t know much other than what’s been in the press which said the scheme has ceased to operate because the parent company is withdrawing from all UK operations. They previously said the Aberdeen scheme was successful but in the P&J it was implied it was not financially viable. The council did not put any money into it which meant the hire rates were quite high and may have affected uptake. Maybe with the LEZ coming in they’ll be sitting on a big pot of LEZ fines that they can put towards active travel?! Martin said there was talk of potentially collaborating with a private company to redo the bike hire scheme but have it be council-run.
Consultations – DoT consultation on e-bikes – Smarter regulation: proposed changes to legislation for electrically assisted pedal cycles – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
This consultation asks about whether to make the very many illegal bicycles that have ‘throttles’ (i.e. power without pedal assist) legal as electric bicycles. Alastair says he thinks they’re going down the wrong direction and should be focussing on infrastructure instead. Martin says there are mopeds with pedals and engines – they’re legal (as mopeds / motorcycles) and shouldn’t use the cycle path. Gavin thinks we should respond so is interested to hear everyone’s comments. Consultation closes on 25th April. Michelle has an ebike and would find it unpleasant to have a much more powerful bike on a cycle path beside her. The proposal would allow more powerful motors (500W rather than 250W currently) but the 25kph limit would remain. The increase to 500W is said to be for the benefit of cargo bikes and adaptive bikes. Rachael says its disappointing that they aren’t proposing to legislate for e-scooters. Gavin asks if anyone has been to cities in the UK with scooters? In Cambridge for example the trial e-scooters are legal (only ones from the hire scheme) but must be ridden on the road, not on the pavement or cycle paths. Alastair says he was in Paris and used the Lime scooters which he loved and they’re limited to 25 kph. Martin says he used Lime ones in Berlin and used on-road cycle paths. Gavin will draft a response and will try to find out what Cycling UK are saying.
Any other business
Gavin says the no idling banner is at Ferryhill school but not on display yet. They’re trying to get it to coincide with some active travel document they’re writing.
Gavin noted that our next meeting in April is also our AGM when office-bearers notionally stand down and can be re-elected, depending on other volunteers / candidates. Gavin said although he will be willing to continue it would be good to encourage others to join in, especially younger members with a view to diversity and longer-term succession. Laurie and Martin both said they are very happy to be involved in ACF business and contribute when they can (as they already do) but unlikely to stand as office-bearers currently due to other commitments.
Clare Roberts has indicated to Gavin that she is willing to continue as Treasurer.
Gavin has also had some discussion with Jon Barron of GCP about future collaboration. Jon has raised the topic of whether one organisation would be better than two, although this is a change of tack from when GCP was set up c.2018. The discussion needs to continue.
Aberdeen Cycle Forum 