Consultation Digest Issue 61, 26 May 2020

There are 2 new items and the first is news of progress with the redevelopment of Motherwell Train Station, with a nod given to active travel – let’s hope it’s sufficient as more and more people take to walking and cycling and return to public transport, albeit with social distancing, rather than jumping in the car. Then there is a questionnaire for you.
Probably more important, though are Items 1.3 and 1.4 with significant questions on the impact of Covid 19. Do please respond to the well set-out surveys if you wish to see transport and travel improvements.

Contents

Section 1: Current Consultations

1. North Lanarkshire, City Deal, Motherwell Town Centre Transport Interchange Planning Application, closes 08 June
2. University of Stirling, EU-funded survey on Gender and Transport – please help, no closing date given
3. Scottish Government – Just Transmission Commission, closes 30 June
4. Scottish Parliament EHRi Committee, Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Equalities and Human Rights, open-ended but nominally closes on 01 January 2021
5. Scottish Parliament, EEFW Committee, COVID-19 – impact on Scotland’s businesses, workers and economy, no closing date

Section 2: Forthcoming Consultations

Still no news for you here.

Section 3: Consultation Feedback

1. North Lanarkshire, City Deal, East Airdrie Link Road, Consultant’s response to GoBike submission
2. UK Government, Results of Law Commissions’ Second Consultation on HARPS

Section 1: Current Consultations, in date order for responses

1.1 North Lanarkshire, City Deal, Motherwell Town Centre Transport Interchange Planning Application, closes 08 June

We received this email update from North Lanarkshire Council on 20 May:

“Plans for the Motherwell Town Centre Transport Interchange project are progressing, with a planning application now submitted.

The application, for change of use of vacant land at Muir Street, sets out how we propose to create a new railway station access road and taxi rank as well as improvements to bus facilities and pedestrian crossings.

You can find more information about the project and view the planning application at our project web page. The planning application reference number is 20/00345/FUL.

We are delivering this project as part of the Glasgow City Region City Deal.

The Motherwell Town Centre Transport Interchange will complement redevelopment work planned by Abellio Scotrail at Motherwell Rail Station. This includes creating an enhanced station building with a brighter, larger concourse and improved ticket sales and passenger facilities.“

In Digest 25, issued in January 2019, Item 3.7, we included this link to details of a consultation, which we had missed, to proposed improvements around the railway station, quoting “Improvement to walking and cycling routes”

Here’s a link to a ScotRail article about the proposals; it’s dated 2018 so we aren’t sure what has happened since. The article mentions improved cycle access and while the plans submitted with the Planning Application show a 3m cycle lane to the station, there is no other detail.

GoBike has submitted the following comment of tentative support to the plans but if you support the Planning Application or have concerns, do please follow the links in the North Lanarkshire message to the project web page and use the reference 20/00345/FUL to insert your comment.

“GoBike, the Strathclyde Cycle Campaign, supports the use of the cycle as an everyday means of transport for people of all ages, and, to realise this aim, we need to see good quality dedicated cycle infrastructure, not simply painted lines on our roads, with adequate parking arrangements at destinations such as railway stations.
We are pleased to support this planning application because it is a step, albeit a very cautious one, in the right direction. We note that currently, or at the time of your public consultation 2 years ago, very few people were cycling to the station. We do not see very much in your proposals to entice more people to use their bikes; we are concerned that although you show a dedicated cycle path to the station on your layout plan, it is directly adjacent to the taxi rank. What is to prevent taxis, their drivers or passengers encroaching on the cycle lane?
During the current pandemic far more people are cycling in Motherwell as they are all around Scotland and, once train services are able to return to more people travelling, although initially allowing for social distancing, we hope that you will be able to encourage far more people to travel to the station by cycle, from all parts of Motherwell and its environs.”

1.2 University of Stirling, EU-funded survey on Gender and Transport – please help, no closing date given

We received an email recently from a Dr Yvonne Hail and Prof Ron McQuaid from the University of Stirling, who are taking part in an European funded consortium exploring gender and transport (https://diamond-project.eu/) 

“The aim of the project is to evaluate different fairness criteria relating to people’s use of various transport modes, including bike share schemes in order to develop measures to increase the number of women who use the services and to compare and evaluate different fairness criteria. The fairness criteria will be based on an analysis of demographic data, socio-economic data and location to ensure fairness for all in access to bike sharing facilities.
Due to social distancing and the wider societal impacts of COVID19 we are looking for assistance in our data collection campaign and hope you can help us, by sharing our online questionnaire with your networks (users/non-users).“

Questionnaire: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfecB23Wd4jzApEORNSKbatMZkqJSfgaL3U8sb1c3U3WCUbGg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Do help them please by completing the survey – it’s a bit clunky, but you should find it of interest – even if you have never used a hire bike.
There’s no closing date given but do please fill it out before you forget.

1.3 Scottish Government – Just Transmission Commission, closes 30 June

The details of this consultation were given in our last Digest, Digest 60, Item 1.1, but here’s the wording from the Government’s website:

The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets)(Scotland) Act 2019 recently passed by the Scottish Parliament contains some of the most ambitious statutory emission reduction targets in the world. The transition required to meet these targets will be one of a number of long-term structural changes to the economy that will require a response and active management from the Scottish Government.

Against this backdrop of increasingly ambitious emission reduction targets, calls for fairness in climate change action and securing a ‘just transition’ have grown. Originating from the trade union movement, the concept of just transition refers to the need for Governments to take action to reduce emissions in a way which is fair and leaves no-one behind.

The Just Transition Commission has been established to provide Scottish Ministers with practical, realistic, and affordable recommendations for action that will:

• maximise the economic and social opportunities that the move to a net-zero economy by 2045 offers
• build on Scotland’s existing strengths and assets
• understand and mitigate risks that could arise in relation to regional cohesion, equalities, poverty (including fuel poverty), and a sustainable and inclusive labour market

If you follow the link you will be able to respond to the call for evidence – since most of us have a bit more time at the moment do put your thoughts about maintaining road space for cycling, reducing emissions, etc in the boxes. Please do it for the sake of your health and the nation’s health.

1.4 Scottish Parliament EHRi Committee, Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Equalities and Human Rights, nominally closes 01 January 2021

This open-ended inquiry was covered in Digest 60, Item 1.2 and according to the parliamentary website:

“There is no set deadline to submit your views. The call is open-ended to enable the Committee to monitor any ongoing or emerging equalities and human rights issues, so that steps can be taken to protect those most in need.“

We have all seen that our streets are emptier, the air is cleaner, more people are walking and cycling; these are the very things we need to see continue and unless we tell the Government we need them to continue, they will just go with the easy option and let cars return.
Here’s more information from the website:

“This inquiry seeks to identify the evidence that some groups of people are experiencing disproportionately negative impacts of the coronavirus, and by some of the measures taken to deal with it.

The inquiry will look at the measures the Scottish Government and other public bodies, including regulatory and oversight bodies, can take to help. It will also examine measures taken by public bodies and the impacts they may have on equality and human rights.

We want to hear your views on:

• which equality groups are being disproportionately negatively affected by the coronavirus, and by some of the measures taken to deal with it 
• what equality and human rights impacts there have been
• what the Scottish Government can change or improve to mitigate against these impacts“

This is your chance to say that people without cars are being given better air to breathe and those of us who choose to walk and cycle now have more space to do that. If things are allowed to revert to what they were before we will all be disadvantaged. Please do respond.

1.5 Scottish Parliament, EEFW Committee, COVID-19 – impact on Scotland’s businesses, workers and economy, no closing date

This is the third high-level consultation that was first aired in Digest 60, Item 1.3 and here’s the link to the Parliament’s website. Again, no closing date is given but if you do run a business or have significant concerns, please do submit your views. The website request you to:
“Please send your response by email to: economyenergyandfairwork@parliament.scot“

GoBike is grateful to Transform Scotland for bringing these last three Scotland-wide consultations to our attention.

Section 2: Forthcoming Consultations

No, we are not aware of anything at the moment.

Section 3: Consultation Feedback

3.1 North Lanarkshire, City Deal, East Airdrie Link Road, Consultant’s response to GoBike submission

We last mentioned the consultation on this in Digest 59, Item 1.2 and we had submitted this letter of opposition to the new road on 14 April. On 15 May we received this email with a letter from the Consultants, Aecom, who are dealing with this scheme:

“Thank you for your recent public exhibition response on the above.

Please find attached a letter as above which ought to be self-explanatory.

We had planned to hold a number of specific workshops during Option Development for the East Airdrie Link Road, however, given the current COVID-19 situation this is now not possible.  We would however still like to commence some early engagement and would like to invite you to join a virtual workshop through Microsoft Teams with a focus on Active Travel.  Please could you let us know if you would be interested in joining us using this approach and we can send on further details in due course.

Any other queries, please let me know.

Regards

Ryan Hutchison, BSc CEng MICE FCIHT
Technical Director, Roads, Scotland & Ireland“

GoBike member, Derek, has volunteered to join the virtual workshop mentioned in the email so we hope to have more news for you as work progresses.

2.2 UK Government, Results of Law Commissions’ Second Consultation on HARPS

In Digest 52, Item 1.3 we last gave details of the most recent consultation on this topic and published the GoBike letter of response, dated 06 January. On 20 May we received this update:

“Dear All,

The Law Commissions’ automated vehicles team are pleased to share the results from our second consultation on passenger services and public transport.

People’s responses cover some of the new challenges and opportunities arising from HARPS (Highly Automated Road Passenger Services) like creating safety standards and remote supervision of this new service. Prominent themes include the need to balance national and local governance, the importance of access to data, and to support rather than undermine mass transit.

We are very grateful for all the input received. You can find all of our published documents, including a 160 page analysis (which includes quotes), a 23 page summary, and the full text of each response listed alphabetically (alongside our original consultation documents) on our website: https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/automated-vehicles/ .

Our consultation closed at the start of February before the impacts of COVID-19 became so widely felt. We hope you and yours are safe and well, and to have the opportunity to reconnect with you as we progress to the next phase of our work. In our third paper (which we aim to launch in the fourth quarter this year) we will go back to the safety assurance framework for automated vehicles, legal responsibility as well as integrating input from this HARPS consultation.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions.

With all best wishes,

The AV Team

Automated Vehicles | Law Commission | Public Law Team
1st Floor, Tower, Post Point 1.54, 52 Queen Anne’s Gate, London SW1H 9AG
(access via 102 Petty France)
Tel: 020 3334 3969 | Web: www.lawcom.gov.uk
Email: automatedvehicles@lawcommission.gov.uk

GoBike gets a couple of mentions in this document, though it’s a bit beyond our normal comfort level for consultations.

They say they are working up to another consultation later this year, so it’s keeping them busy, at least.

Back in a fortnight – hopefully!