Author: Rachel M

ACC Core Paths “Counsultative Draft”

Aberdeen City Council is currently developing a “core paths” proposal, a requirement of the 2003 Land reform act.
There are a number of paths in the City that could be designated as core paths, e.g. the Deeside line.
When finally designated there will then be a requirement to maintain the paths under the legislation.
Clearly cyclists have an interest in this.

As with most matters like this it can take a while for the wheels of government to turn! ACF will be responding
when the “formal” consultation process commences, however there is currently a “Consultative Draft Core Paths Plan”
available to view on the ACC web.

Maps of all the local areas are included and feedback is welcomed you can
learn more here

Aberdeen’s Second Bike Recycling Scehme Opens

UPDATE OCTBER 2013 – We have been informed by instant Neighbour that Bike Fit is no longer operating. The original article from 2010 has been retained below, but please don’t contact instant neighbour about bikes!

After a bit of a delay, the BikeFit bike recycling project is now up and running and accepting donated bikes. It is based within the Instant Neighbour premises on St Machar Drive. Aberdeen now has the luxury of TWO bike recycling projects, with beCyCle already established. Donated bikes will be repaired and refurbished by BikeFit and offered for sale, or free of charge in certain circumstances. As well as bike recycling, BikeFit services bikes and offers a mobile “Dr Bike” service. The workshop is managed by Peter Cooper a bicycle mechanic of some 36 years. Peter most recently worked with Bill Reid at Broomhill Road cycles, The details:

• The collection of donated bikes is free.
• The basic service will cost
  

Taking a stand at the Wall

ACF’s Taking a stand initiative has recorded another success.

Transition-Extreme, with it’s indoor climbing wall, BMX and skate centre was a much welcomed addition to Aberdeen. During construction however one small detail was missed out, yes you guessed it a bike stand! The irony of this was not lost on the large number of people who wrote to us to point this out.

ACF contacted Transition and thanks to the efforts Neil Stevenson and Craig Mitchell, Transition now has a nice set of Sheffield stands at the entrance. A second set will shortly appear inside the building. Craig even featured in the recent ACF story in the Press and Journal

In installing the stands Transition, a charity, has managed to quickly achieve something two FTSE 100 companies B&Q and Dixons Stores Group are still strugling to acheive, despike having plenty of environmental policies! If you have any more suggestions for places that should have a stand use the taking a stand pages to let us know and we will see what we can do

ACF Making a Stand at Tesco

Tesco have recently expanded in Aberdeen with two new stores; the new Tesco Express in Manofield, and the Tesco South, on Wellington Road, a former Somerfields store. As ever with these “new” develpments, plenty of car parking spaces, but not a cycle stand in sight. Thanks to all who brought this to our attention.

So what happened with the new planning conditions requiring cycle stands that ACF worked so closely with the council on? The simple (and disapointing) answer is that they don’t apply; as a conversion of an existing store Tesco South does not require planning permission. The development in Manofield of which Tesco is a part was granted permission on 3rd August 2006, before the new conditions came into effect. Plans did show stands, however discussions with planning officers indicated the provision of them could not be enforced!

Undeterred ACF contacted Tesco, as with any large organisation this took some time – two letters and two emails vanished before our final attempt to Tesco PLC’s director of sustainable development, Lucy Neville-Rolfe hit home. We are now in communication with Tesco’s Scottish site manager and are pleased to report three Sheffield stands in Manofield. The provision of stands at Tesco South is under investigation, we’ll update this page if it happens.

Meanwhile if you should find yourself, as one ACF member put it, “using a lamp post that had been used by a dog” customer comment forms are available in the store, ACF would encourage you to use one, as Tesco’s own strapline says Every little helps

If you know of any other locations where there should be a stand, get in contact. Use the main Taking a Stand page to let us know and we will see what we can do

Local Transport Strategy

ACF recently responded to Aberdeen City Council’s Consultation on the new Local Transport Strategy. Commonly Known as the “LTS” this document will be used to guide all the councils decisions until 2012, although many of the guidelines for cycling in earlier strategies were ignored!

You can read more on the page LTS Consultation page. ACF’s submission can be downloaded Here

Work Starts on Westhill-Aberdeen Cycle Route

Back in the mists of time, well actually July 2006, ACF worked with the councils counsulants on the
design of a cycle route from Aberdeen to Kingswells and Westhill, you can read the original design here . At the time we envisaged work would start on the first part of the route in 2006 and would be completed in Q2 2007, so what happened?

Well in the 2006/7 financial year the council never got round to spending the budget! Incredible but true, not only does Aberdeen have one of the lowest budgets for cycle facilities in Scotland, in the last financial year the council never actually spent it all and money was “lost” to cycling.

Fast forward to the present, 7 months into the financial year in fact, and we are happy to report that work has actually started, the images below show the route construction going on at the Westhill end of the Langstract. Whilst it will take more years to complete the final route we see this as a good (if late!) start.

ACF is monitoring the spent of the 2007/8 CWSS (Cycling Walking and Safer Streets) budget carefully, sign up for our E-News service to learn how you can help us ensure it’s spent.

Support Sustrans Connect2

Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity responsible for the development of the National Cycle Network is currently bidding
for

AWPR – Ongoing Consultation

Way back in February 2007 ACF (and about 8,000 other people) lodged an objection to the proposed Aberdeen Western Prehipheral Route. In October 2007 we received a response asking us to consider withdrawing our onjection. Having read this we have decided NOT to withdraw it. Read more…

• Our Original Objection
• Response from Transport Scotland (Scanned)
• Our Reply

Taking a Stand in the Media

ACF’s “Taking a Stand” campaign to improve the cycle parking in the city centre recently featured in the media. You can read the article in the Press and Journal here (PDF file) .

As with many newspapers the Press and Journal has a letters page to allow readers to comment on the stories. Should you wish to do this “letters” can be sent to the editor by email pj.editor@ajl.co.uk (you need to include a contact address/number).

You can learn more about the campaign at the main Taking a Stand Pages

Pinch Points – City Council Policy Changed!

For the last two years ACF has been highlighting the dangers to cyclists of “central islands” installed on our roads. After formally objecting to the latest batch and speaking at no less than three council comittee meetings (read press coverage), the matter was defered to the councils policy comittee. Thanks is due to the large number of you who wrote to councillors or roads engineers to “officially object”. Councillors had a lot of objections to read.

In September we organised the Feeling the Pinch survey of cyclists in Aberdeen.

At the end of October ACF made a written submission and presented at the City Council’s Policy and Strategy Comittee (comittee number 4!). Council roads engineers presented members with three options

• 1 – No Changes to current policy
• 2 – A minimum of 1.5m coloured tarmac cycle lane through the islands
• 3 – No traffic islands within the city that reduce the running width (i.e. kerb to kerb width) to less than 4m

After much debate the councillors decided on Option 2, If you are interested you can see which councillors make up the Policy and Strategy committee

Currently, no new islands have been installed while the council processes grind on. This means the latest batch of 6 islands should be installed with the lane; we await the detailed plans from the roads engineers.

So, suffering from committee fatigue, we ask ourselves if this is a victory for cyclists? Feedback from the narrow lanes (1m) that have been installed in some locations in the city have had mixed results – remember you don’t have to cycle in them if you don’t want to. After consideration we would say yes, for the first time in living memory the city council stopped what it was doing and changed it’s direction as the result of cyclists. As new islands come before the various area committees we will continue to closely monitor the situation.

If you want to comment on this article or even get involved with the forum – volunteers are always welcome – then get in contact!