Agenda item

With reference to article 19 of the minute of meeting of 21 June 2022, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which provided an update on the Berryden Corridor Active Travel Connections Programme progress and sought approval of the outline business case.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the contents of the business case for the Ashgrove Connects project;

(b)      agree the recommendations within the business case for the Ashgrove Connects project appended to this report;

(c)      instruct the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning to submit a bid to Scottish Government’s Places for Everyone scheme for funding to enable the detailed design of the Ashgrove Connects project and implementation, subject to the identification of suitable match funding;

(d)      note the content of the Skene Square to City Centre route option assessment report;

(e)      agree the preferred option within the Skene Square to City Centre route option assessment report and instructs the Chief Officer - Capital to progress the development of detailed design and, subject to 2.6, its implementation concurrently with the Berryden Corridor Improvement project;

(f)       instruct the Chief Officer - Capital as part of the detailed design to develop a detailed estimate for the Skene Square to City Centre active travel connection project (being the preferred option as described in the Skene Square to City Centre route option assessment report) and if required, refer any additional funding requirement to this year’s budget process;

(g)      instruct the Chief Officer - Capital to progress all necessary approvals, permissions, licenses, agreements, and consents required to develop and implement the Ashgrove Connects & Skene Square to City Centre active travel connection projects; and

(h)      delegate authority to the Chief Officer – Capital, following consultation with the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services, to consider and approve business cases (including estimated expenditures) for the Ashgrove Connects and Skene Square to City Centre active travel connection projects for the purposes of Procurement Regulation 4.1.1.2 and 4.1.1.4; thereafter to procure appropriate works and services, and enter into any contracts necessary for the delivery of the projects.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to approve recommendations (a), (b) and (d) to (h);

(ii)       to instruct the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning to submit a bid to Scottish Government’s Places for Everyone scheme for funding to enable the detailed design of the Ashgrove Connects project and implementation, and to circulate a Service Update to members of the Committee on securing match funding;

(iii)      to note the recommendation at page 145 of the agenda, “Progress is made towards a comprehensive strategic network study to provide a city-wide plan prioritising active travel routes for future development. This process would benefit from targeted engagement that would greatly enhance and enrich the network planning process along with further data collection and auditing.”; and instructs the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning to circulate a Service Update to members of the Committee which sets out the requirements and timescales required to prepare a Strategic Network Study to provide a city-wide active travel priority plan;

(iv)      to note ongoing work to progress the A944/A9119 multi-modal study and instructs the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning to ensure that this study fully considers, when the relevant report is prepared for committee, the linkages with the Ashgrove Connects scheme and wider Berryden Corridor Active Travel Connections; and

(v)      to instruct the Chief Officer - Capital to provide Service Updates to members of the Committee (as appropriate) on progress relating to recommendations (c), (e) and (g) above.