Cycling organisations plea to keep cycle paths at Aberdeen beach

Aberdeen Cycle Forum has partnered with Grampian Cycle Partnership and Scottish Cycling North East Grampian to write a letter to Aberdeen City Council to vouch for the importance of keeping cycle lanes on the beach esplanade.

The cycle paths were installed two months ago with funding from the Scottish Government’s Spaces for People programme which aims to encourage social distancing for people to safely share the street during the pandemic. Despite social distancing still being in place, the council has decided to remove the cycle lanes following complaints from people that had difficulty unloading their car due to a lack of space.

The three cycling organisations had hoped that the first segregated bike path in Aberdeen would expand to a connected network of cycling infrastructure which would allow a wider audience to enjoy cycling while staying safely away from cars and pedestrians.

They also point out that the cycle lanes can resolve a number of other problems such as taking the pressure off public transport, slowing down the traffic and improving the currently poor air quality of the city which arguably worsens respiratory illnesses like COVID-19.

To guide the council in their decision, the organisations have offered solutions for simple modifications such as the possibility to increase the segment of the road that separates the cycle lanes to the parked vehicles.

In their letter to the council, the cycling organisations stated that the decision to remove the lanes appeared to be “a knee-jerk reaction to a perceived problem that could have been easily resolved through dialogue and consultation”.

They are encouraging the disappointed part of the community to email the local councillors in order to reverse their decision in a bid to save Aberdeen’s reputation.

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To get all the updates from the story you can check out the Aberdeen Cycle Forum at the following link: https://aberdeencycleforum.org.uk/