Issue - meetings

(i)             to note that the Aberdeen City Council (City Centre, Aberdeen) (Traffic Management) (Experimental) Order 2023 was implemented to achieve the safe and efficient movement of active travel and public transport users through the city centre, and that the measures originated from the City Centre Masterplan 2015 Movement Strategy;

(ii)           to note that at the Council’s City Growth and Resources Committee in February 2021, Committee instructed officers to submit a bid to the Scottish Government’s Bus Partnership Fund, and included specific instructions to:-

(a)           instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning, that in the context of the corridor options within the bid terminating in the City Centre, and in light of the recommendations from the Economic Policy Panel and ongoing transport projects, to seek to accelerate the City Centre elements of the bid. This should include any necessary enabling works for approved schemes, for example South College Street and Berryden, to help drive recovery, improve the transport system and ensure integration of current transport projects; and

(b)           instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning, to explore options to improve access and integration of the Aberdeen bus station as part of the bid, to help improve the customer experience;

(iii)          to note that at the Council meeting in June 2022, all Members of Council present either explicitly voted for the inclusion of bus priority measures contained within the Aberdeen City Council (City Centre, Aberdeen) (Traffic Management) (Experimental) Order 2023, or proposed an amendment that would have also resulted in the measures being included;

(iv)          to note that, as instructed by Council in July 2024, additional work has been undertaken by officers to investigate the feasibility and impact of reopening Bridge Street to all vehicles in one or both directions; and, the feasibility and impact of removing the ban on right turns from Union Terrace onto Rosemount Viaduct (Appendix 1);

(v)           to note that the output of the additional work referenced in recommendation 2.4 (above) does not provide officers with sufficient certainty that amending bus priority measures on Bridge Street and Union Terrace would not prejudice the further delivery of key projects within the City Centre & Beach Masterplan 2022;

(vi)          to note that the output of the additional work referenced in recommendation 2.4 (above) does not provide officers with sufficient certainty that amending bus priority measures on Bridge Street and Union Terrace would guarantee there would not be a need in the near future for the measures to be reintroduced as traffic levels begin to rise once more;

(vii)        to note that, according to Scotland’s 2022 Census Data, 30.7% of households in Aberdeen do not have a car or van in their household;

(viii)       to note that, in February 2023, Aberdeen City Council added its voice to the growing number of local authorities around the world to have responded to the global climate change and nature loss crises by declaring a climate and nature emergency;

(ix)          to agree that, in accepting grant funding from Transport Scotland for the South  ...  view the full decision text for item