LABOUR and Conservative councillors are set to unite in a bid to resolve the bus gate crisis affecting Aberdeen businesses by endorsing the Common Sense Compromise proposed by local traders.
Aberdeen City Council’s SNP and Lib Dem administration is poised to make the bus gates a permanent fixture today, despite receiving nearly 12,000 signatures on a petition calling for modifications to the system.
A report scheduled for discussion with city councillors this afternoon suggests that the temporary measures implemented to manage traffic should be made permanent.
More than 11,000 individuals have supported an alternative proposal from the business sector – the Common Sense Compromise.
These proposals include:
- Keeping the Guild Street bus gates along with restrictions on Schoolhill and Upperkirkgate
- Removing the bus gates at the Adelphi and Market Street, allowing access in both directions via Market Street
- Removing the bus gates on Bridge Street, granting full access in both directions
- Eliminating the ban on right turns on Union Terrace
- Issuing warnings instead of fines for the first offenders
- Using fines to support city centre businesses through transport initiatives
In his report to councillors, city planning chief David Dunne claims that the current measures cannot be further adjusted without affecting bus timetables.
Writing in the Press & Journal this morning, Bob Keiller, chairman of both Our Union Street and Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, has called on councillors to put an end to the suffering faced by city centre merchants and all those who value the city centre.
“From the clumsy communication and confusing signage, through to the gaslighting of legitimate public and business concerns, the roll-out of these traffic measures has been an unmitigated disaster,” he said.
He added: “My plea to councillors is this; adopt the Common Sense Compromise and work with businesses to bring people back into our city centre.
“Accept that removing some of the bus gates will have a limited impact on some bus services at busier times – but that is a compromise worth making.
“We need an outcome that shifts the narrative and gives people the comfort they need to return to our city centre.”
The coming together of Labour and Conservative opposition councillors on this issue today is an unusual display of unity.
Conservative councillor Ryan Houghton said: “We have to get this right. It is not good enough to simply look for reasons to do nothing. Aberdeen deserves better.”
Labour group leader M Tauqeer Malik said: “This is about the opposition coming together to see if the administration can finally see the damage they are doing to business.”
Aberdeen Inspired chief executive Adrian Watson warned that cementing the bus gates would be “a hammer blow to city centre businesses who have already made it clear they are fighting for their survival”.
