Bypassing the truth

The case against the Aberdeen Western Bypass

What is the Aberdeen Western Bypass?

The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, to give the road its official name, is a new dual carriageway planned to be bulldozed through Aberdeen's western green belt from the A90 in the Charleston area, south of the city, to the A90 near Blackdog, north of Aberdeen.

Who wants the Aberdeen Western Bypass?

The bypass is being pushed for by the Scottish Executive, business groups and by roads lobby organisations. The scheme is being promoted by the North East Scotland Transport Partnership (NESTRANS) which is a partnership between Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils, business groups, Scottish Enterprise Grampian and Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce.

What is the current situation?

In 2005, five possible routes for the bypass were consulted on. However, the consultation was badly skewed as it failed to offer sustainable alternatives to road-building as an option. Thousands of objections poured in to the proposed routes, though it was the 'Murtle' route which met with the largest community opposition. This was mainly due to the presence on route of the Camphill community for people with special needs, whose Newton Dee site would have been devastated by the road.

In December 2005, Camphill's campaign proved successful when Transport Minister Tavish Scott announced that the 'Murtle' option was to be dropped. However, he left many observers dumbfounded by opting for, what he bizarrely called, an "innovative" solution - a route that was never part of the so-called consultation.

The new proposal is not for one new road, but for two new roads, and itwill see a dual-carriageway stretching from Charleston in the south,through Milltimber Brae, to the Blackdog junction north of Aberdeenwith an additional link road from Milltimber via Netherley toStonehaven.

Residents along the route are furious that the chosen option was notincluded in the consultation. This decision by the Executive reinforcesFriends of the Earth's view that the whole process behind the projecthas been a sham from the start.

How much and who pays?

Theoriginal plan was supposed to cost £80 million. In 2002 the cost wasput at £120 million. The minister's announcement in December now putsthe cost between £295 million and £395 million whilst independentresearch suggests it is likely to be a lot higher. Aberdeen andAberdeenshire Councils originally agreed to meet 9.5% of the cost eachwith the Executive covering the remaining 81%. There will be a 'blackhole' of over £50m in the funding if the councils refuse to meet 9.5%of the new cost.

What happens now?

DraftRoad Orders for the route were published on the 14th of December 2006.This signals the start of the consultation process with a public localinquiry expected in late 2007. If the road orders go forward as plannedthe bypass will be complete by 2011.  The final date for formalobjections to the draft road orders is the 9th of February 2007.  A map of the new route (pdf).

Why Friends of the Earth opposes the Aberdeen Western Bypass:

1. The bypass will do nothing to reduce traffic demand or congestion

The scheme will have no effect at reducing congestion levels. TheScottish Office 'Sustainable Transport Study for Aberdeen' concludedthat the bypass would only remove 2% of city centre traffic. AberdeenÕscongestion problem is on the five main radial routes into the city(Stonehaven, Deeside, Westhill, Dyce, Ellon) at peak times and anorbital route like the AWPR can have only a marginal affect on thisproblem.

The impact of this proposal in terms of traffic generation has not evenbeen considered despite the fact that Scottish government policy hasfor almost a decade acknowledged that road-building will tend togenerate more traffic: "We acknowledge that the 'predict and provide'approach to road building is unaffordable, unsustainable and,ultimately, self defeating. New road capacity can generate more usageand add to congestion." (Transport White Paper 'Travel Choices forScotland', Scottish Office: 1998)

The proposal has not been assessed against Aberdeen Council's targetsto reduce traffic: "By 2011, to reduce the total number of vehicletrips within the Aberdeen area, consisting of the City and its maincatchment area of 20 miles around, by 20% of 1997 levels (a reductionof 29% on projected "do nothing" figures)."

Instead the road is being supported to open up new development land andIt is a developers' charter for ribbon development.

The new road itself will do little to assist Aberdeen City Council'splan to address the fact that 60% of City Centre workers commute by carand that whilst 64% of travel-to-work journeys are less than 4 km, morethan half of these are made by car. (Aberdeen City Council's localtransport strategy - December 2000).

2. Failure to investigate alternatives:

The scheme is being promoted despite the fact that, contrary toGovernment advice, the scheme has not been subject to a fullmulti-modal appraisal i.e. sustainable alternatives such as publictransport investment and better traffic management have not been lookedin to:

"Wewant to see new roads built only where it makes sense to do so: thatis, after a thorough appraisal of the costs and benefits associatedwith any proposed scheme and any possible alternative modes which mightserve the same route." (Transport White Paper 'Travel Choices forScotland', Scottish Office: 1998).

"Beforeincluding major new [road] schemes in their strategy, local authoritiesshould be able to demonstrate that they have looked at alternative orcomplementary solutions such as public transport improvements andtraffic management measures, and that the road scheme is consistentwith an integrated transport strategy." ('Guidance on Local TransportStrategies and Road Traffic Reduction Reports', Scottish Executive:2000)

The 'Sustainable Transport Study for Aberdeen' (Scottish Office: 1998)found that traffic levels in the city could be reduced by 29% by 2011through low-cost combinations of measures, including parking controls,extended bus priority and improvement to walking and cycling priorities.

3.Air pollution problems will not be solved by a new road

Air quality at a number of sites in Aberdeen is currently set to exceedguideline levels for a number of pollutants. In particular the AberdeenLocal Air Quality Management Assessment report (August 2004) predictsthat National Air Quality Standards for both NO2 and PM10 will bebreached at a number of locations. It is a statutory duty for localauthorities to hit the European air quality targets and the Governmentmay risk legal action if these are not met.

Air quality improvements are one of the justifications being made forbuilding a bypass. However, there is no evidence that this will in factbe the case.

4.New roads result in more climate change emissions

The transport sector accounts for 14% of Scotland's greenhouse gasemissions and 23% of climate changing carbon dioxide emissions.Emissions from the transport sector have increased by 8% in Scotlandsince 1990 (Netcen, 2004) and road traffic is the second fastestgrowing sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Scottish Executive's Transport Delivery Report produced in March2002 acknowledges that "action is required now to prevent rising carbondioxide emissions from road transport." Indeed the UK Climate ChangeStrategy requires that the transport sector delivers 40% of the UK'sproposed reduction of CO2 levels by 2010.

Aberdeen City CouncilÕs Climate Change Action Plan also states that itis imperative to "look at how we can reduce the emissions from fossilfuels that are causing climate change". Despite this, no information onthe climate change implications of implementing this road project havebeen provided.

Whatshould happen instead?

Plans for an Aberdeen Western Bypass should be shelved. The moneycommitted by the Executive and councils should be spent on sustainablealternatives instead. This could include:

i) An enhanced bus services and infrastructure - Provide additional busservices to meet the changing needs of the area

• Expand bus priority to ensure bus reliability and cut travel time
• Improve bus information providing Realtime bus information both online and at stop.
• Improve and expand evening, Sunday and night service links.
• Provide CCTV on all buses

ii) Completing Aberdeen Crossrail.

• New stations, more frequent trains and additional park and ride.
• Install CCTV on all trains and in Aberdeen stations

iii) Tackling congestion through demand management

• Rapidly expand controlled parking/residents parking zones to cover all areas within walking distance of the city centre or major traffic generators like universities and business parks
• Assess the benefits to the area from both local congestion charging and national road user charging

iv) Encouraging cycling and walking

• Invest in cycle routes, pedestrian crossings, street lighting and pavement maintenance to encourage people to walk or cycle more of their trips.

v) Exploring the possibilities of tram lines in Aberdeen

• Cities of Aberdeen's size and population are well-suited to tram systems. Similar sized cities such as Graz and Linz in Austria and Bern and Lausanne in Switzerland all have good tram systems.

• Official Aberdeen Bypass website - http://www.awpr.co.uk
• Aberdeen Western Bypass (Aberdeen FoE) - http://www.aberdeen-foe.org.uk
• Road Sense (Local community campiagn) - http://www.road-sense.org
• Aberdeen Western Bypass (Greenbelt Alliance) - http://www.aberdeengreenbelt.org