Aberdeen City Council is set to defend its controversial bus gates in court on October 24, 2023, amid claims from local businesses that the measures were unlawfully made permanent. Retailer Norman Esslemont is representing a coalition of Aberdeen businesses that argue the council did not follow proper procedures when implementing the bus priority measures. The legal proceedings reflect growing tensions between the council’s traffic management strategy and the local business community.
The council has issued over 100,000 fines related to the bus gates in the past two years, leading some drivers to avoid Aberdeen altogether for fear of incurring penalties. According to data, the city has collected more than £3.5 million from fines since the start of the initiative. The bus gates were originally introduced as experimental measures but were made permanent in October 2022.
Mr. Esslemont expressed frustration with the council’s approach, stating, “In my 60 years in business, I have never seen a council so out of touch with the business and public in Aberdeen.” His group has raised approximately £70,000 to fund the legal challenge after unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a compromise with the city authorities.
The implementation of the bus gates has been particularly contentious on key thoroughfares including Guild Street, Bridge Street, and Market Street, where the highest number of fines have been issued. Business owners have reported significant declines in customer traffic as a direct consequence of the restrictions.
For instance, Mr. Esslemont noted a staggering 30-40% drop in turnover during July 2022, attributing this decline to customers’ concerns about being fined. He remarked, “So many had been fined, they started to say we’re not coming in to Aberdeen.”
The impact of the bus gates is not limited to local retailers. Alison, a private tour guide from Inverness, revealed that she ceased visiting Aberdeen after receiving fines totaling £400 earlier this year. “The city is not going to get visitors to the centre,” she stated. “I’m not taking anyone back there, not as long as this is going on.”
The council maintains that the bus priority measures are clearly signposted, support active travel, and ultimately improve bus reliability. Despite these assertions, critics, including Mr. Esslemont, argue that the council has failed to provide sufficient justification for making the bus gates permanent. He insists that the scheme was “never truly experimental in nature” and that the reasons given by the council were “inadequate and unintelligible.”
While the Aberdeen City Council has refrained from commenting on ongoing legal proceedings, the case will be heard at the Court of Session in Edinburgh and is expected to last for two days. This legal battle highlights the broader tensions between urban transport policies and local economic interests, raising important questions about the future of traffic management in Aberdeen.
