Step Three – Consultation
Within Government
Consultation was undertaken with colleagues in Transport Scotland, and across the Scottish Government in development of this guidance, including but not limited to, the following directorates:
- Transport Scotland Roads Directorate
- Transport Scotland Bus, Accessibility and Active Travel Directorate
- Transport Scotland Major Projects Directorate
- Scottish Government Planning and Architecture Division under Local Government and Communities Directorate (NPF4 and Designing Streets policy)
- Scottish Government Legal Directorate
Stakeholder Consultation
Consultation with public bodies and stakeholders was undertaken throughout the development of the guidance through the implementation of a Steering Group. The non-governmental members of the Steering Group included:
- SCOTS / local authorities
Additionally, the following were engaged on the progress of the documents and were welcomed to provide feedback:
- Regional Transport Partnerships including HITRANS
- Cycling Scotland conference, 2016 and 2019
Stakeholder consultation was undertaken within the following groups:
- Group A – Strategic professionals with a view of the policy importance of Cycling by Design and its application.
- Group B – Designers with experience of applying Cycling by Design.
- Group C – Peer Review
Interviews were conducted individually with stakeholders to gather views on the purpose and overall use of the guidance, it’s technical content and structure, and the ease of use of the document. This was then supplemented by more detailed consultation with certain groups, and from attendance at cycle user group meetings.
The list below notes the individual organisations engaged:
- Group A – Policy
- Transport Scotland
- Sustrans
- Cycling UK
- MACS
- Roads for All forum
- Wheels for Wellbeing
- Group B – Design
- Glasgow City Council
- City of Edinburgh Council
- Argyll and Bute Council
- The Highland Council
- North Ayrshire Council
- East Lothian Council
- Aberdeen City Council
- Dumfries and Galloway Council
- HITRANS
- Ayrshire Roads Alliance
- BEAR
- Jacobs
- AECOM
- WSP
- Group C – Peer Review
- Phil Jones Associates
- Civic Engineers
- Arup
- Urban Movement
Business Consultation
Although no formal consultation with businesses was undertaken, end user organisations such as engineering consultancies and planners were engaged regularly to ensure the document would be fit for purpose.
Public Consultation
No formal public consultation was undertaken, other than the stakeholder consultation set out above.
Main Concern Raised by HITRANS and relevant local authorities
During consultation with HITRANS and local authorities with large rural communities, the main concern raised was that rural (and island community) cycling infrastructure schemes may not be viable if the criteria in the draft Cycling by Design for separation of cyclists, desirable minimum widths and high levels of service were applied too rigorously in a rural or island context.