Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Councillor Grant declared an interest in relation to the item of business by virtue of his employment by Aberdeen Inspired and withdrew from the meeting.

Councillor McLellan advised that he had a connection in relation to the item as the Council’s appointed observer to the Board of Our Union Street, however having applied the objective test he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

The Council had before it the wording of the written request for this special meeting which had been signed by 14 members in accordance with Standing Order 8.2.2:-

“The business to be transacted relates to the business regarding THE ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL (CITY CENTRE, ABERDEEN) (TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT) (EXPERIMENTAL) ORDER 2023 - STATUTORY PUBLIC CONSULTATION.”

With reference to Article 15 of the minute of meeting of the Net Zero, Environment and Transport Committee of 11 June 2024, the Council had before it a report by the Executive Director of City Regeneration and Environment, which had been referred to it by three members of the Committee in accordance with Standing Order 34.1.

The report recommended:-

that the Net Zero, Environment and Transport Committee -

(a)           note the benefits highlighted, to date, by the bus operators, and recognise the measures would support continuing improvements. Similarly, noting the measures supported active travel by way of walking or cycling. Collectively, the measures were a vital component of the City Centre Masterplan for establishing an attractive and vibrant city centre, with an environment that was conducive to encouraging footfall. Furthermore, choice remained in terms of access, with car parks and on-street parking capacity unaffected, and a network of appropriate distributor roads available, whether for access or through traffic;

(b)           approve the making of “The Aberdeen City Council (City Centre, Aberdeen) (Traffic Management) Experimental Order 2023” as a permanent Order, albeit with continued monitoring in terms of the ongoing City Centre Masterplan; and

(c)           instruct the Chief Officer - Operations to commence the procedure for the Order to be made permanent.

The Net Zero, Environment and Transport Committee resolved:-

(i)             to agree the recommendations subject to (ii) and (iii) below;

(ii)           in the context of the ongoing construction works on Union Street and around the New Market development, to instruct the Chief Officer - Operations to introduce a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO) to suspend the Bus Gates on Union Street (westbound only) / Market Street (southbound only), between its junctions with Adelphi and Hadden Street; this allowing all classes of vehicle to turn left from Union Street onto Market Street, thereafter restricting general traffic to a left only turn at the bottom of Market Street onto Trinity Quay (Virginia Street), this to aid continued access and servicing of the businesses on Market Street and Shiprow throughout the remaining period of construction; and

(iii)          to instruct the Chief Officer - Operations to report to this Committee in 18 months’ time on the operation and impact of this city centre traffic management regime and to make any recommendations for modifications he considers appropriate.

Following the conclusion of questions to officers, Councillor Yuill advised that he had a connection in relation to the item, in response to the Michie family having been mentioned, having worked for the Michie family many years ago and having maintained contact with them since then, however having applied the objective test he did not consider that he had an interest and would not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.