Agenda item

1)    Item 9.1 - Lily and Lara - 3^rd year pupils at Bridge of Don Academy and Oldmachar Academy

2)    Item 9.4 - Tibeche - 4^th year pupil at Dyce Academy; and Agnes – Primary 7 pupil at St Peter’s Primary School

3)    Items 9.1, 9.2, 9.4 and 9.5 - Jon Barron

4)    Item 9.1 - Rachel Martin

(A)       The Council received a deputation from Lara, a third year pupil at Oldmachar Academy, and Lily, a second year pupil at Bridge of Don Academy, who spoke in connection with the City Centre Update report.

Lara explained that they had been involved in the City Centre and Beach Masterplan project since the summer and that she liked giving her views and opinions on things. She enjoyed visiting the Art Gallery and appreciated that it was free. Lara felt that the city centre needed more shops, particularly independent ones, and more places to eat that were not just fast food. She added that young people needed somewhere to go in town to hang out and not to have to pay anything - more museums would be good, where young people could learn more about the history of Aberdeen.

Lara felt that the plans for the city centre were beautiful and very important for the future of the city. She felt that young people were being listened to and she enjoyed sharing their work at World Children’s Day. She added that her involvement in the project had given her more confidence and she had made new friends. Lara hoped that young people would continue to be listened to and they would be able to go anywhere they wanted in the city centre. She concluded by requesting the Council to agree to the proposals within the report.

Lily agreed that being involved in the project had been an amazing experience and it was good that the consultation on the city centre wanted to make a difference for the city. She spoke about her own future and how she wanted to be an engineer and that it would be good to help make Aberdeen a cleaner city. Lily added that the project had also given her more confidence and she had made new friends.

Lily advised that she liked to go into town with her friends but she was unable to do so unsupervised as there were not many safe places to hang out. She felt it would be good to have a youth club in the city centre, or other places that were free where they could do activities. She added that the Christmas Village was great and she wished it could be open all year round. Lily felt it was important for the Council to listen to the views of young people and hoped that changes could be made in the city centre soon.

Members asked questions of Lara and Lily and thanked them for their deputation.

(B)       The Council next received a deputation from Tibeche, a third year pupil at Dyce Academy, who spoke in connection with the Beachfront Masterplan reports.

Tibeche first spoke on behalf of Agnes, a primary seven pupil at St Peter’s School, who was unable to be present. Agnes had enjoyed visiting the Beach Leisure Centre and the activities that they had done as part of the project. Agnes felt the proposed redevelopment of the beach was really good as they had taken on board their views in the drawings and models. She had enjoyed exploring the beach area as part of the project, it had been lots of fun.

Agnes hoped that in future there would be things to do for all ages at the beach. She had enjoyed participating in World Children’s Day and got to have a say, as well as learning more about the city and making new friends - the whole experience had boosted her confidence greatly which was echoed by her Mum.

Tibeche then presented her own views - she had found the project really interesting and exciting. Her favourite exercise had been the time travelling task where they looked back at what the beach used to look like. Tibeche had enjoyed the visits to the beach and the Art Gallery and had made friends with everyone. She agreed that young people needed places to go that did not cost much, particularly in the summer. She felt that the beach needed to be improved, for example with huts on the sand and pop-up shops where local businesses could have food stalls.

Tibeche emphasised that places needed to be more friendly to young people, with more places to hang out where young people would be made to feel welcome. She was proud of her involvement in the project and it had made her life a lot more interesting and had boosted her confidence. Tibeche concluded by asking the Council to listen to the views of young people, support the proposals and make the beach a really nice and inclusive space where young people could hang out and feel safe.

Members asked questions of Tibeche and thanked her for her deputation.

(C)       The Council then received a deputation from Mr Jon Barron, Chair of Grampian Cycle Partnership, who spoke in connection with items 9.1, 9.2, 9.4 and 9.5 on the agenda.

Mr Barron thanked those members who had met with him recently and emphasised that it was vitally important that the Council acted now. He added that there was a lot to like in the reports, however he took issue with the suggestion that they had truly prioritised walking, wheeling and cycling.

Mr Barron implored the Council to finally follow Scotland’s National Transport Strategy by truly embedding the Sustainable Travel Hierarchy in its decision making by promoting walking, wheeling and cycling first, then public transport before all other transport options; and by working towards the Scottish Government’s 2030 Vision for Active Travel by shaping Aberdeen’s communities around people so that walking or cycling could become the most popular choice for shorter everyday journeys; and deliver high quality walking, cycling and wheeling networked infrastructure that was safe and available to everyone.

Mr Barron stated that it was a stark reality that Aberdeen had fallen far behind other cities in the world (he cited Paris in France and Pontevedra in Spain) and other places in Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee in particular) in relation to what it provided for those travelling on foot or by bike. For example, Aberdeen’s streets still did not have any permanent on-road segregation for cycling, neither was there any road space reallocation for our most vulnerable modes. He added that all of the resulting benefits that active travel brought to our physical and psychological wellbeing, to our local and wider environment and to our economy were well evidenced.

Mr Barron stated that promoting, supporting and enabling active travel had always been important but, for a variety of reasons, the times we were in the midst of made it increasingly so. He concluded by urging members to set aside their political differences, and finally bring about the lasting changes that other cities around the globe, and some much closer to home, had long since delivered or were working towards. He emphasised that it was lasting change that Aberdeen citizens, and those who come to visit and work, had long deserved. He pleaded with the Council to aim high, be bold, imaginative, creative and decisive, and to aim for world class.

Members asked questions of Mr Barron and thanked him for his deputation.

(D)       The Council last received a deputation from Ms Rachel Martin, who spoke in connection with the City Centre Update report.

Ms Martin stated that she wanted to protect cyclists from motorised traffic on Union Street, including buses, by providing physical separation in the form of a segregated cycle track. She highlighted her own experience of cycling to the meeting today, where she was wedged between two buses on Union Street and the bus behind her was extremely close, so much so that she felt she had no option but to get off her bike and push it onto the pavement.

Ms Martin emphasised that the perception of safety was just as important, if not  more so, than actual safety. She added that what the Council had planned for Union Street was not inclusive for the vast majority of people in Aberdeen - because of the perception of safety. She highlighted Scotland’s recently updated Cycling by Design Guidance which emphasised that putting cyclists and buses in the same space benefitted only experienced and confident users.

Ms Martin highlighted issues such as the climate crisis, obesity crisis and pollution crisis, and stated that cycling could help to tackle all of those issues but only if more people were encouraged to take up cycling. She referred to a Sustrans survey from 2021, whereby only 4% of residents travelled by bike as their main mode of transport, however 32% said they would like to. The main issue was people felt cycling was not safe - 70% of respondents wanted physically separate cycle tracks.

Ms Martin stated that for every mile a person cycled instead of driving, the net benefit to the local economy was 94p, which equalled £19million annually. She added that for every £1 spent on cycling infrastructure, £5.50 was returned to the community in community benefit.

Ms Martin underlined that the Council was not being ambitious or creative enough, there were several options in relation to Union Street in terms of reducing the number of lanes or making it one-way. She implored the Council to consider the feedback that had been provided in the September consultation where there was an overwhelming desire for cycle infrastructure. She concluded that members should be considering designing cycling infrastructure not for more experienced cyclists like her or Mr Barron but for young people who wanted to cycle.

Members asked questions of Ms Martin and thanked her for her deputation.