Aberdeenshire Council implemented a unique engagement approach during the consultation for its 2023 Local Transport Strategy document, aiming to enhance public involvement in policy and strategy development. Short-themed papers were created for key transport topics such as walking and cycling, low-emission vehicles, behaviour change, and electric bikes. These concise papers outlined the background of each topic, including local and national policies, and provided insights into potential future scenarios and their impact on Aberdeenshire. The papers were designed in a simple format to increase public knowledge and stimulate debate.

The theme papers outlined key considerations, preparing public stakeholders for an optional online survey that followed. The content of these papers formed the basis for writing the Aberdeenshire Local Transport Strategy, resulting in significant time and resource savings. A separate engagement pack was developed for use in schools, intended for classroom environments where various topics could stimulate class debates, allowing education providers to link into the Curriculum for Excellence learning outcomes.

The survey was structured to allow participants to select relevant topics, and it was limited to ten questions per topic. Promotional materials were prepared based on the concept of ‘taking ten (minutes) to answer ten (questions)’, improving the projected response rate and enabling the public to address questions of interest while avoiding irrelevant topics. Over 2,500 members of the public were engaged, exceeding expectations for a consultation on a strategic document. With over 500 downloads of theme papers, the Council tracked which topics attracted the most interest.

During the consultation, subsequent social media activity targeted the least popular topics. The data from this innovative engagement approach gave the Council greater insight to inform the evolving strategy document. It enabled engagement with those who might have otherwise been less interested in a ‘strategic consultation’ and broadened the appeal of interaction to a wider audience, as evidenced by the consultation feedback. Compared to previous engagement exercises, there was a much-improved gender split and greater involvement from a broader demographic age group.

Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership (Tactran) is the statutory Regional Transport Partnership for Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross, and Stirling councils. In 2023, Tactran engaged Arup to facilitate the delivery of the Regional Active Travel Network and associated strategic work across a region where only about 1% presently choose cycling as their daily mode of transport, while slightly over 20% opt for walking.

The strategy establishes a comprehensive framework for coordinating the development of active travel routes connecting urban and rural areas, including cities, towns, neighbourhoods, transport interchanges, healthcare facilities, and other significant locations. It aims to position active travel as the preferred choice for everyday trips by implementing approximately 360km of cutting-edge infrastructure.

The network links with 18 train stations and 12 strategic bus stops and integrates with 12 hospitals, 13 major employment hubs (each with over 1,000 employees), more than 50 educational points, and 13 tourist and visitor destinations. Inclusivity has been a priority, with engagement with disability and mobility-impaired groups guiding route designs for diverse users.

Estimates suggest a potential tenfold increase in cycling and a sixfold increase in walking (DfT AMAT Assessment). Integrating with public transport hubs assists in making longer sustainable journeys, while links to communities and key destinations facilitate shorter daily journeys and support 20-minute neighbourhoods, promoting multimodal travel options.

The City of Edinburgh Council’s multidisciplinary Placemaking & Mobility team was established in 2022 to develop and implement policies and projects to make Edinburgh healthier, greener, and more liveable. Over the past 12-18 months, it has worked to implement a fully integrated ‘place-based’ approach to transport planning and implementation, led by the local transport strategy, City Mobility Plan (CMP). The process was informed by citywide engagement in the summer of 2023 to further understand the city’s top priorities and the difficult decisions needed to meet Net Zero, car kilometre reduction, and Vision Zero targets. The work comprises four interrelated elements developed in parallel:

1. Review of the CMP (2021) 2. Our Future Streets – a Circulation Plan for Edinburgh 3. Expansion of the tram network to connect Granton with Bioquarter and beyond 4. West Edinburgh Transport Improvements

One of CMP’s key commitments is to deliver a strategic approach to allocating street space to support the prioritisation of modes, especially sustainable modes, and reduce conflict. At the heart of this work is an ambition for integrated, equitable, place-based delivery to maximise positive impacts faster to reach Net Zero by 2030. It reflects national and regional policy, including the National Transport Strategy and National Planning Framework 4, and has been developed with Council plans, including Climate Strategy 2030, City Plan 2030, Economy Strategy, and 20-Minute Neighbourhoods Strategy. Success is being measured by what has been achieved by the ‘end of 2023’ CMP Implementation Plan milestones and performance against most CMP’s KPIs.

Nationally, Edinburgh was the first Council to approve a target to reduce car kilometres higher (30%) than the national/regional 20% by 2030 target. Between 2019-22, car kilometres were reduced by 7% (164 million fewer km), and carbon emissions from road transport were reduced by 8% between 2019-21 (53,100 fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide). CMP review resulted in significant streamlining of our previous transport planning approach of presenting individual action plans for active travel, public transport, road safety, air quality, and parking. Instead, actions across all these themes are fully integrated into the CMP Implementation Plan, ensuring place-based (rather than mode-based) delivery, supported by ‘Our Future Streets’.

Glasgow City Council’s Active Travel Strategy and Liveable Neighbourhoods Team is a part of the Transport Planning and Delivery service. In collaboration with key stakeholders, the team developed Glasgow’s Active Travel Strategy 2022-2031 (ATS), which is part of the wider Glasgow Transport Strategy and aims to achieve significant modal shift to walking, wheeling, and cycling, thus contributing to the transport, environmental, economic, and social needs of the city. Three Themes frame the ATS with associated strategies:

1. Connectivity, people, and place focus on infrastructure changes and network development to rebalance our street environments towards people. The Delivery Plan for the City Network (CN) sets out the design specifications and work phases to rapidly deliver a dense network of high-quality protected cycleways and improved pedestrian infrastructure across Glasgow.

2. Unlocking change outlines training, education, and promotional measures to support mode shift. The Travel Behaviour Change Strategy (TBCS), adopted in June 2023, further encourages sustainable transport choices by supporting engineering teams to plan and deliver behaviour change activities appropriate to infrastructure projects.

3. Thinking differently seeks to inspire and sustain new audiences and travel behaviours. The Cycling and Urban Sports Strategy (C&USS), adopted in November 2023, broadens the potential audience for physical activity through its innovative inclusion of ‘wheeled’ urban sports with cycling.

The ATS is now helping bring about a step change in movement around Glasgow at a time when the climate crisis has brought all travel modes into sharp focus. The comprehensive set of ATS documents and the LN programme enable the council to present a clear narrative on its aspirations for active transport in the city and how it will achieve this. The ATS complements and influences a range of other council strategies, also contributing toward the ambitious targets to achieve Net Zero carbon (Climate Plan, 2021), a 30% reduction in car kilometres (Glasgow Transport Strategy, 2022), and Vision Zero (Road Safety Plan 2020-2030), all by 2030.

Stantec supported Dundee City Council in a successful bid for over £12 million from the Levelling Up Fund (LUF) to create a multi-modal Sustainable Transport Hub (STH) on the edge of the city centre inside the Marketgait ring road by repurposing a multi-storey car park.

In parallel, DCC was also awarded funding through Places for Everyone to enhance the walking and cycling links between the Hub and the wider active travel network, north across Marketgait ring-road, and south to the city centre.

Stantec designed the ‘spokes’ to the hub to create links with the wider proposed active travel network of Dundee and other major developments including the Waterfront, and the proposed Eden Project development in the east of the city.

Dundee City Council, across many different departments, has carefully managed the designs for the hub, associated public realm, and the connecting active travel routes, in direct collaboration with Abertay University, whose site borders the hub.

Other neighbours (and potential users) of the Hub include student accommodation sites (both existing and proposed), the Police, the High School of Dundee, and other local businesses – all of whom have been carefully consulted on their requirements for the hub throughout the project.

Local stakeholders and community groups, including Dundee Cycling Forum, local religious groups, and local business partnerships, have been engaged throughout both projects.

The collaborative approach to project design has led to minimal differentiation between project boundaries, a key issue in city centre regeneration-type projects.

It has also contributed to a design which can maximise the anticipated benefits to the various aims of the City Council, local learning establishments, local businesses, and, of course, the citizens of Dundee.