Next Aberdeen Local Transport Strategy
Aberdeen City Council is developing its next Local Transport Strategy which will cover the period from 2023-2030 and we need your help.
What is a Local Transport Strategy?
- A Local Transport Strategy (LTS) is a high-level transport plan which looks at the transport needs of a local authority area.
- It sets out a series of actions and outcomes to meet those needs over a set period of time.
- It considers transport’s relationship with wider plans, policies and strategies (including those to do with health, technology, communities, the environment, the economy and land use).
- The Aberdeen LTS focuses on Aberdeen City Council’s area but also considers connections into Aberdeenshire Council’s area given the important role of Aberdeen at the heart of the wider City Region.
- The Strategy covers the period from 2023 – 2030, but will also look beyond towards 2045 to provide a clear framework for longer-reaching strategic decision making and investment
What is a Local Transport Strategy not?
- The Local Transport Strategy (LTS) is not something which goes into specific detail about schemes. It will not say, for example, that we will put a cycleway down a particular street or how it will be designed.
- The LTS is not purely about roads and traffic. It’s about a whole transport network and this includes not travelling at all.
- The LTS is not anti-car. Vehicles have an important place in the transport network.
- The LTS will not show preference to one particular area. This means it will not be trying to improve the economy, communities, the environment, health, technology or land use alone but will consider them all.
- The LTS is not a wish list of schemes but a strategy to improve the transport network backed up by evidence. You’ve helped to provide this.
- The LTS is not developed without consideration of the wider context. Therefore, it is very important that it continues to benefit and be shaped by yourselves.
Consultation on the draft Local Transport Strategy (2023-2030)
What do you think?
Please take a look at the draft Aberdeen Local Transport Strategy (2023-2030) and its supporting documents below and then let us know your thoughts via the questionnaire. You can find them all at this link.
There will also be hard copies of the documents and questionnaires in the Aberdeen City libraries and at Marischal College. These will be available during the normal opening times of these facilities
The consultation period will run for 8 weeks from Friday 17th November 2023 to Friday 12th January 2024.
Your feedback will be used to inform the final version of the Aberdeen Local Transport Strategy (2023-2030).
We’ve also asked some questions about you. This allows us to see if there are any themes coming through from different groups of the population. This can help, not just to inform the Local Transport Strategy but also the projects which will stem from it.
If you have any questions, please get in touch at transportstrategy@aberdeencity.gov.uk
To view the privacy notice for this consultation please go to Your data: Aberdeen Local Transport Strategy Consultation | Aberdeen City Council
What has been done to date?
A main issues consultation took place from Monday 4th October to Sunday 14th November, asking people what they thought were the main problems and opportunities facing the transport network in Aberdeen and to tell us what works well, what does not and what could be done to improve things. We also wanted to know what aspects of the current Local Transport Strategy, adopted in 2016, are still relevant along with transport’s interaction with other aspects of life.
We received 387 responses received so thank you to all who participated.
The results will be used to inform the Main Issues Report for the next Local Transport Strategy which, in turn, will be used to inform the strategy itself. The Main Issues Report will also form one of the appendices to the Local Transport Strategy
Aberdeen City Local Transport Strategy
Local transport strategies communicate a local authority's strategy and proposals for transport to its citizens, under the umbrella of the Community Plan.
The Aberdeen City Local Transport Strategy (LTS) 2016-2021 has been developed to set out the policies and interventions adopted by Aberdeen City Council to guide the planning and improvement of the local transport network over the next five years.
The LTS does not start from a blank sheet of paper; it must take into account national and regional transport, planning and economic development policies, as well as being fully integrated with the Council's wider objectives and outcomes.
The previous LTS was adopted in 2008 and focussed on delivery of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) and the opportunities that this new road capacity would afford to reorganise and improve the use of the City's overall road network. Although the 2008 LTS has come to the end of its intended lifespan, as Aberdeen remains in a pre-AWPR state, much of the content is still relevant and will continue to be so going into the period 2016 to 2021. It has therefore been determined that a fundamental change in the overall policy approach is not required; instead a 'refresh', reflective of changes to national, regional and local policy and circumstances since 2008, is appropriate.
Given that the AWPR will be completed by late 2017, this LTS refresh focuses its attention on the delivery of the range of actions required to achieve a series of newly formed outcomes for the City and ensure that complementary measures, which 'lock in' the benefits of the AWPR and other major infrastructure improvements, are maximised for everyone. By 2021, Aberdeen's transport system should have: Increased modal share for public transport and active travel, reduced the need to travel and reduced dependence on the private car, improved journey time reliability for all modes, improved road safety within the city, improved air quality and the environment, and improved accessibility to transport for all.
Based on the interventions contained in the Strategy, a Costed Action and Delivery Plan has been developed. This provides the framework for delivery; recognising that progress on individual elements of the Strategy are dependant on funding and thee outcomes of a number of processes and statutory requirements, including partnership working, consultation and technical assessments and appraisals:
Aberdeen Active Travel Action Plan
The new Aberdeen Active Travel Action Plan 2021-2026 was approved by the City Growth and Resources Committee on Wednesday 03rd February 2021 and identifies the actions and interventions that the Council will pursue to make walking and cycling safer and more attractive choices, and to increase the number of active journeys in our city in order to make Aberdeen a healthier, more attractive and economically vibrant place in which to live and work and to visit.
Both a summary version, full plan and associated appendices can be viewed from the links below:
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan
Aberdeen City Council adopted its first Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) in December 2019.
The SUMP is a long-term transport strategy for the city centre which identifies projects that will be progressed by the Council and partners to make it easier and more attractive for people to travel around the area on foot, bike, public transport and other low-emission forms of transport in preference to less clean alternatives.
The SUMP has been developed in the context of a number of other projects concerning transport in the city centre including ongoing City Centre Masterplan (CCMP) delivery, the recent Roads Hierarchy review, Low Emission Zone (LEZ) option appraisal, development of a revised approach to car parking, aspirations for a bike hire scheme and regional investment in tourism and cycling-related events, which have raised expectations amongst residents and visitors of a walking and cycling-friendly environment in the city centre.
The SUMP therefore seeks to:
- Support Aberdeen’s transition to a low carbon and low emission future
- Support the city centre living objectives of the CCMP by developing of a safe and sustainable city centre which people can access and move around with ease and which is a pleasant place to live and spend time in
- Complement and further develop the transport elements of the CCMP
- Support the revised Roads Hierarchy, particularly the principles of discouraging through-traffic and improving accessibility for people walking, cycling and using public transport
- Identify infrastructure required to support the successful delivery of a bike hire scheme and LEZ
- Support the ongoing City Region Deal project to identify and appraise external transport connections to Aberdeen South Harbour.
Aberdeen Electric Vehicle Framework
As part of its Climate Change Plan 2018 – 2032, updated in December 2020, the Scottish Government have committed to phasing out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030. This is likely to increase demand for plug-in vehicles and places to charge them.
Using Transport Scotland funding, the Aberdeen Electric Vehicle Framework for the city was commissioned in November 2019 to inform the future plans and supporting infrastructure for EVs in Aberdeen over the next 5-10 years. It was informed by consulting with key stakeholders and the public through an online survey, with the aim of understanding the barriers and opportunities for EVs in Aberdeen. Feedback was then used to inform the content of the Framework. Part of the Framework establishes the numbers and types of charge points needed to support the forecasted increase in EV numbers and the most suitable locations to install at. The Framework also seeks to tackle perceived barriers to electric vehicle ownership. This includes how to best cater for those without off street parking who want to own EVs, such as exploring piloting a residential charging trial within the city.
As well as informing our own plans as a Council, the Framework is intended to demonstrate to other organisations in the city how much growing demand there is for EV charging and to therefore encourage others to install EV charge points in the city, safe in the knowledge that this will not be a wasted investment. We’ve already seen organisations including Shell, Bannatynes gym, Lidl, Union Square and the Bon Accord Centre installing publicly-available EV chargers so it is hoped that many more will follow.
The Framework was approved by the Council’s City Growth and Resources Committee in February of 2021. It is also backed up by an extensive Evidence Base and Baseline report.
For further information on EV charging in Aberdeen please see our Electric Vehicles page and, for charge points in Scotland, visit the Zap Map Website