Attendees: Gavin Clark (Chair), Rachel Martin, Laurie Rominger, Daniel Verhamme, Fiona McDonald
Gavin noted one outstanding action which was to put an ‘About Us’ section on the website
Union Street – report from December council meeting participation request
Rachel and Jon Barron of GCP spoke at the council meeting and we think it helped with the decision that was made for east and west sections of Union Street for segregated cycle paths. There’ll be no provision for the central section of Union Street which is unfortunate but we made gains for east and west sections at least. There was also an instruction to officers to investigate with bus companies the idea of a speed limit similar to what operates on Broad St, for the central section.
Gavin submitted a Participation Request (Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015) just before the meeting last December and he got a response this week which was an attempt (the second one) from Council officers to persuade him to drop the request. The fact they did a consultation in October that supported segregated cycle paths but then they didn’t act on this at all is frustrating. We believe we are using the request in the way it is intended so we’re not going to withdraw the request. Everybody agrees we should continue with it. They also say we haven’t specified the outcome we want to see of the request but we feel it is clear: we want segregated cycle paths on Union Street.
Community Empowerment Act: easy read guidance – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Fiona asks what the time scale is for the next Council decision? Gavin thinks it’ll be November/December 2023
Other council contacts / liaison
We’re in touch with Cllr Kate Blake (Labour) and she’s been in touch recently suggesting we have another meeting. She sent us a link to council plans for a strategic network review – https://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/documents/s140326/StrategicNetworkReview.pdf
We’re also due to meet with Ian Yuill again in February. Gavin has emailed his secretary to try to arrange a date but hasn’t heard back yet. We also haven’t heard back on the points we raised with them last time including the lack of signage on beach esplanade. [post meeting note, meeting with Cllrs Yuill and Radley scheduled for 16 February]
Consultation – Aberdeen South Harbour route
Sweco are working on the link road from the new south harbour to the city and they emailed us recently. We were consulted on this previously in 2020 so we responded with our original concerns about the route. The proposed route is the ASHLR route here https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=3a07b67e0126467bba2bca092a1d8a2c&extent=-2.1281,57.1008,-2.0044,57.1464
We agree this route is not ideal for cyclists to go from the harbour to the city. It’s much further, less direct, and more hilly for cyclists than if they went straight via Torry. However, if a new road is going in then we support segregated cycling infrastructure on it as long as this is not at the expense of a direct route to the city for cyclists.
Insurance
After some chasing the broker had got back in touch with Gavin. The quote is around £270, and valid for 14 days. Rachel suggested we wait until we have an event planned so we get 12 months from the date. Gavin would rather sign up now and have it for 12 months. If we delay we may have to go through the process of getting a re-quote and it has been hard work getting this far.
Events or other meetings
Critical mass last Friday had about 20 participants. They completed two laps. Gavin and Manus led the ride. There was a cargo bike with two kids in it and some other new people. Cllr Christian Allard (SNP) was there too.
Gavin said there’s a new bike lane on Schoolhill when heading west past the end of Back Wynd which takes you to the end of Belmont Street. It’s just a painted line and cars park in it. We could complain about this at the next ACTUP meeting. Laurie said she noticed there are now cars parked in Belmont Street. Gavin thinks it’s not legal, except perhaps for Blue Badge holders but people do it anyway because there’s no effective enforcement. We’ve raised the issue of enforcement previously at ACTUP, but the Council seem either unable or unwilling to do anything about it.
We got invited to a community assembly organised by NESCAN. It’s taking place tomorrow evening at Tillydrone and they wanted someone to represent Aberdeen Cycle Forum and talk a bit about cycling. Gavin has managed to get a volunteer from our membership – Dave Shannon.
Climate café – next meeting on 28th February and it’s on a transport theme and they’ve invited us to go and speak. They’ve also invited Nestrans. We’ve just discovered we got the date wrong and it’s actually 28th March to coincide with climate week, but it is a clash with our usual meeting date. There’s also the Sustrans event which is on 27th March and they want someone who cycles for environmental reasons to talk a bit about it.
Gavin will do the climate café meeting and Rachel can run the ACF meeting. The Sustrans talk is just for 10 minutes and maybe another 5 minutes for Q&A. Rachel can do this if no one else puts their hand up.
Other campaign updates or new ideas for 2023
The engine idling banner is still in use and is currently at a school in Banchory. When it came back from Huntly it was really dirty so Gavin had to give it a good clean.
Fiona suggested inviting people to our meetings to tell us what they’re doing. For example, an iBike officer who was working with the grammar school to get more students cycling. Fiona will find out and invite to the March meeting. Another person is Katrina from NHS Grampian. She’s employed by Sustrans and embedded in NHS Grampian to increase active travel for staff.
Gavin has an idea for a bike jumble sale for bikes, parts, clothing, accessories. There was an outdoor sporting equipment sale in Banchory last year. We would need a venue and could charge people to have a table and then charge people £1 to get in. We’ll give it a bit more thought.
Any more candidates for spotlight on a cyclist?
Gavin has someone lined up – Bruce Cruickshank who was one of our active members and moved to France a few years ago, but had been in touch recently. Rachel could also ask Ben.
Any other business
Social ride – Gavin will chase Francesco for another date.
Plaques – Gavin hasn’t forgotten about it and did have a conversation with neighbour who has a suitable drill but it requires electricity. So it’s probably better to pay someone to do it still.
Daniel mentions the proposal for a drive-through McDonalds on corner of Ashgrove West Road with Anderson Drive. The consultation is open on the McDonalds website https://mcdonaldsconsultation.co.uk/ashgrove/feedback/
We can all submit that individually.
Fiona asked if there’s any Pedal on Parliament this year. We think they are but no dates have been set.
Gavin also mentioned we could do a Kiddical mass – this was also something Martin Sharman was working on. Fiona mentioned the day without my car in September would be a good time for Kiddical mass.
Date of next meeting 28th February 2023
Aberdeen Cycle Forum 