Present: Gavin Clark (Chair), Rachel Martin, Fiona McDonald, Francesco Sani, Alan Irving, Katy Hardacre, Mark Raistick.
Apologies: Deema Aburizick, John Johnston
Quick recap
The meeting began with introductions and technical setup, including discussions about using Zoom’s meeting summary feature and welcoming Mark to the group. The main topics covered included cycling infrastructure challenges in Aberdeen, such as school streets schemes and winter treatment of cycle routes, along with updates on various planning cases and consultations. The group also discussed upcoming cycling events, potential bike storage solutions, and infrastructure improvements, while sharing experiences from other cities and considering ways to promote cycling safety and visibility, particularly for women.
The meeting began with introductions, where Mark shared his interest in improving cycling infrastructure in Aberdeen, acknowledging the long-standing efforts of ACF.
Next steps / Actions
Gavin to write a letter of support on behalf of CycleForm for Sport Aberdeen’s planning application to upgrade the path across the golf course.
Katy to contact Martin about the possibility of theming the Critical Mass ride to align with the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
Gavin to contact Laurie Robertson about adding the new section of Union Street to the National Cycle Network .
Rachel to reply to Deema’s email and ask her about doing a Spotlight on a Cyclist feature.
Alan to write his Spotlight on a Cyclist piece and send it to Rachel.
Liaison & contacts with Aberdeen City Council
There has been no liaison meeting since our August meeting. Next one is in November. Post meeting note: dates now set for 2026 quarterly liaison meetings.
ACTUP (City Transport User’s Partnership) GC had nothing to report as he had missed the last 2 meetings due to other commitments.
Outcomes from NZET September meeting (agenda and minutes can be seen online Agenda for Net Zero, Environment and Transport Committee on Tuesday, 9th September, 2025, 10.00 am
Gavin discussed the slow progress of Aberdeen City Council on implementing school streets schemes, with 7 schools expressing interest but none yet selected as pilots, despite it being more than a year since this process began.
He also highlighted the council’s limited winter treatment of cycle routes, which are prioritized as low (second tier) priority. There has been no change to prioritisation this year, and the Deeside Way is still completely absent. Katy suggested exploring the possibility of community volunteers using ton bags for gritting, but Gavin explained that previous discussions with the council indicated they would not change their prioritization plan due to budget constraints and lack of statutory duty for non-road networks (such as the Deeside Way). Tonne bags were probably of limited use for linear routes. Gavin noted that several items on the NZET agenda had been deferred to the next meeting due to time constraints, further delaying progress on various initiatives.
Sport Aberdeen Path Upgrade Discussion
The group discussed a planning case involving Sport Aberdeen’s request to upgrade a path across a golf course, which has received some support from the public consultation. Gavin mentioned that CycleForm would submit a letter of support, and Katy noted that the Press and Journal had covered the story with a confrontational headline. The meeting also served as a reminder that the local development plan (LDP) consultation was still ongoing, giving members the opportunity to add comments on the consultation map.
Aberdeen Transit Consultation Discussion
Katy mentioned the ongoing consultation for the Aberdeen Rapid Transit, noting concerns about cycle provision and public transport priority. Katy highlighted the council’s Facebook promotion of the consultation and raised issues about space constraints and road safety. Gavin expressed concerns about the leading nature of some consultation questions and the limited ability to respond on behalf of an organization.
Events & activities
Gavin and Katy (along with 2 others from Aberdeen) had attended the Cycling Scotland conference in Dundee, where they were impressed by the ambitious plans from other cities but noted the absence of representation from Aberdeen City Council. There were 2 reps from Nestrans present.
They had discussed the potential for introducing bike hangars in Aberdeen, with Cycle Hoop expressing interest in collaboration. Gavin and Rachel plan to meet with Cycle Hoop to explore this possibility, potentially using member input to assess demand and locations for a trial.
Katy reminded the meeting that there is an ongoing consultation from the City Council about cycle storage. The group discussed the consultation challenges, noting that the current consultation lacks clarity about residential locations and has unclear messaging. They discussed potential areas for bike storage, including HMOs and deprivation-index-scored areas, with Gavin mentioning successful installations at council-managed flats at Seaton but highlighting the wider need across the city. Katy suggested linking bike storage with Sport Aberdeen’s bike skills outreach efforts. Francesco asked about storage for cargo bikes. Gavin acknowledged that standard cycle hangars don’t accommodate cargo bikes (although they make versions which do) but there is probably a need to focus on ordinary bikes before considering cargo bikes.
The group discussed two cycling events: a route organized by Fraser (Cycling UK) that visits Aberdeen’s main parks and ends at Ferry Hill House Hotel, and a potential event during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in November. They agreed to help publicize Fraser’s Glowride ride rather than organize a competing event, and discussed the possibility of repurposing the Critical Mass ride to focus on women’s safety and visibility, particularly given the upcoming Reclaim the Night march on November 20th. Katy suggested making the event more inclusive by encouraging more women to participate and potentially adding a themed element with lit-up bikes and creative costumes.
Any other business
Cycle Network Expansion Discussion
The group discussed adding a new section of Union Street to the National Cycle Network, with Rachel noting that Sustrans had requested more information and suggesting they connect with Laurie Robertson (Sustrans officer within Aberdeen City Council). They learned that Sustrans had rebranded to Walk Wheel Cycle Trust.
Francesco asked what is ACF’s current membership, since our revamp of the membership at the start of the year? GC noted it is currently just over 300 (compared with 600 before the change). This confirms our suspicion that the old address list had a lot of redundant addresses.
Cycling and Infrastructure Challenges
The group discussed cycling infrastructure in Stavanger, where Alan shared his experience of using electric rental bikes and noted the city’s impressive bike-friendly features, though he observed that winter cycling conditions were similar to Aberdeen. The discussion touched on the environmental impact of electric cars, with Alan noting that their widespread adoption in Stavanger had actually increased overall driving mileage.
The conversation ended with Fiona mentioning about a proposed development of 115 houses in a green space near Cults and Bieldside. If this went ahead it would be an unfortunate loss of greenspace and could impact on the Deeside Way, as well as creating a new link road between Inchgarth and the North Deeside Road. Fiona would report back as the consultation progressed.
Date of next meeting: Tuesday 29th October
NB Notes prepared by Zoom AI assistant, then manually edited.
Aberdeen Cycle Forum 