Latest news

Hello,

The Ardrossan Connections team are still looking forward to sharing the updated concept designs for the wider project with you in due course.

In the meantime, installation of the quick wins is still underway. As mentioned in our previous blog, seeing an improvement to the look and feel of the centre of town was a comment that we received many times over the course of our engagement. For this reason, we decided to help improve the look and feel of the town centre by installing some quick win measures ahead of the construction of the larger project.

A community noticeboard, repainting benches, and installing planters were amongst the most popular choices when we held a vote with you last year.

We hope you’ve been enjoying the refreshed look of the benches around Princes Street and Glasgow Street now they’ve been repainted. You might have noticed that the noticeboard has also been installed on the corner of Princes Street and Glasgow Street.

The planters were also delivered this week, as you may have seen on Glasgow Street and Princes Street.

We hope you like the results of these quick wins and will keep you updated on other installations.

A quick note to say that if you are part of a community group in Ardrossan who have any events or activities that you would like to us to promote in our next blog, then please get in touch with us by replying to this email.

The Ardrossan Connections team is still working hard on the improvements to the project’s concept design, and we are looking forward to showing you these refinements this year. We will be in touch as soon as we are able to show you the updated concept design.

In the meantime, we have been able to progress our quick wins. Many of the comments we received from the community explained that they would like to see an improvement to the look and feel of the centre of town. Ahead of the larger project, we found an opportunity to deliver some quick win measures that we hope will improve the look and feel quickly. Last year, we asked you to vote on your favourite quick wins that we could install. The most popular choices in the vote were a community noticeboard, repainting benches, and installing planters.

Throughout February and March, we will be restoring and repainting benches, installing planters, and a community noticeboard in the centre of Ardrossan. This began last week, when we repainted benches on the junction of Princes Street and Glasgow Street and on Glasgow Street at the start of Montgomery Street. Below you can find some of the before and after pictures.

Over the coming weeks, we will also be restoring and refreshing the benches on Glasgow Street, opposite Barr Street, and placing planters beside the benches. The noticeboard will also be installed on the corner of Princes Street and Glasgow Street.

We hope you like the results of these quick wins and will keep you updated on the other installations.

A quick note to say that if you are part of a community group in Ardrossan who have any events or activities that you would like to us to promote in our next blog, then please get in touch with us by replying to this email.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Ardrossan Connections team would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. At the beginning of 2022, many of you attended our in-person events, walk and wheels, and drop by stalls. Throughout this year you also provided us with really valuable comments and feedback on the initial draft designs that is helping us refine and adapt the designs. Thank you for all your help and for taking part.

Since this time, we have been working on refining the concept design and making sure we get it right. As we have mentioned before, this has taken a little longer than planned but we are really looking forward to 2023 when we will be holding events with you to show them the updated designs.

Art Roots Funding

Sustrans Scotland is looking for community groups who would like to apply for Art Roots funding before the fund closes in March 2023. Art Roots provides up to £5000 of funding for artistic and aesthetic improvements along the National Cycle Network. It is for community led art projects and previous projects have included sculptures, heritage signs, murals, and many more.

Ardrossan Connections Update

Over the past few months, the Ardrossan Connections team have been working on further improvements and revisions to the initial draft designs we showed to you at the start of the year. The comments and feedback received from the community, local businesses and access groups have led this process for us.

This has taken longer than initially planned, and we are sorry that we are not in the position to show you the updated concept design for the project yet. However, we are really looking forward to showing you the updated designs, and as soon as they’re ready, we will be in touch.

Temporary quick wins

As mentioned in the previous newsletter, we have also been working on some quick win measures that can be delivered in Ardrossan before the main project. The favourites from the vote we carried out in June, which included a community noticeboard, benches, re-painted benches, and planters, are now going to be delivered.

The team is in the process of agreeing the locations and materials used for these quick wins. We have taken comments the community made on noticeboards, benches, and planters in previous engagement to guide this. Here’s a similar noticeboard that was installed in Glasgow by Govanhill Community Development Trust and Govanhill Housing Association recently.

Community groups

A quick note to say that if you are part of a community group in Ardrossan who have any events or groups going on that you would like to us to promote in our next blog, then please get in touch with us by replying to this email.

Ardrossan Connections Update

Throughout the past few months, the Ardrossan Connections team have been working on analysing the comments and feedback received from the community and access groups to adapt the concept design. The team have put time into testing what could work to address the community’s comments on the initial draft design.

We are really looking forward to presenting the concept design to the community. We are still working on this process, and plan to present the updated designs to the community in October or November. We will keep you updated and let you know when we can confirm the dates for when the community can view the updated concept design.

Temporary quick wins

At the end of June we asked you to vote for your favourite temporary measure or quick win that you would like to see in Ardrossan. These are small changes that can be delivered quickly, that aim to make positive visual changes to the streetscape whilst the designs continue to develop towards delivery.

Thank you to so many of you for taking part in the vote to choose your favourite quick win! We had 33 responses to the poll and the results were as follows:

As you can see, planters were the favourite, followed by refreshing existing seating and a community noticeboard. The team are now working to deliver some of the favourite choices from this vote and we will keep you updated on this.

Ardrossan Connections Temporary Measures

Whilst the team continue to work on developing the concept design for the Ardrossan Connections project, we have the opportunity to install one or two small, quick changes in Princes Street or Glasgow Street to create more attractive and inviting public spaces in Ardrossan.

These are small and quick changes to the public space that may start to show people how the space could transform.

Temporary measures respond to the community feedback collected in the Discover and Develop stages and could remain in place until the project is delivered or if required, be removed. These are small, self-contained elements of the concept design that could be delivered while the designs continue to develop towards delivery.

Vote for your favourite option!

There are several small, quick changes that are possible, and we would like you to have a say in which ones get chosen. There are 5 options available, and you can choose as many or as few as you would like. We will then pick one or two of the favourite interventions to deliver through the Ardrossan Connections project.

The design and location of any agreed item would be reviewed by North Ayrshire Council, the Steering Group, and Access Groups.

Voting will be open from Thursday 30th June to Sunday 3rd July.

The following options can be chosen from:

Seating:

Planter with cycle parking:

Planter

Community noticeboard

Refresh existing seating

Ardrossan Connections update

The Ardrossan Connections team is currently working on further developing and adapting the concept design. We have been analysing all of the comments we received from the community and access groups. Overall, we received 132 comments on our website and many others through our in-person engagement. We’re really looking forward to presenting the concept design to the community once this process is completed later this Summer.

An objective of the Ardrossan Connection’s project is to allow more people to experience the health and wellbeing benefits of travelling actively and sustainably. One of the biggest of these benefits is a reduction in air pollution, which is recognised by both the World Health Organisation and the UK Government as the leading environmental health risk we face today. Did you know that up to 36,000 deaths in the UK are caused by air pollution each year?

Clean Air Day

That’s why Clean Air Day, the UK’s annual air pollution campaign, is happening tomorrow. Clean Air Day encourages thousands of people to think about what air pollution is and how we can make simple changes in our lives to improve the air quality around us.

What can you do on Clean Air Day?

This year, Clean Air Day is encouraging people to do 3 things:

• Talk to someone about the harms of air pollution.

• Walk those short distance trips and leave the car at home, where you can.

• Ask local and national decision makers for a change in your local community that would make it easier for you to walk more, leave the car at home and breathe clean air.   

Come along and chat to us at our upcoming events, sign up to Dr Bike, and watch our virtual walk and wheel!

Thanks to everyone who came along to our events and shared their feedback on the website in January and February! Following on from these, we have some in-person events coming up. If you haven’t managed to share your feedback, or still have some questions you’d like to talk through, then we’d love to see you.

Drop-by stalls in March and April

The team will be hosting drop-by stalls on the green space at the corner of Glasgow Street and Montgomery Street in the coming weeks. Please come along to chat to us, share any feedback you may have, and ask your questions about the initial designs. We will also have paper surveys available, so if you haven’t managed to fill one in yet, then come by. The time and dates are as follows:

Friday 18th March, 11am to 3pm.

Monday 28th March, 12pm to 3pm.

Tuesday 12th April, 11am to 3pm.

Free bike maintenance check

In addition to the drop-by stall, on Tuesday 12th April , we will be having a Dr Bike session in the same location, where an experienced mechanic can give your bike a free check and make any minor adjustments needed. If there’s any further adjustments required, we will let you know exactly what needs to be done and give you a rough guide to the cost of this.

This blog will aim to promote the recent changes to the Highway Code and helping all road and path users to be aware of the changes, ensuring everyone is conscious of other users and keeping each other safe. There is also details about our website closing for comments this week and our new virtual design walk & wheel video!

Following a consultation in 2020, updates have been made to the Highway Code for all different types of road and path users. The changes happened on 29th January 2022. Here, we will explain some of the changes and how some of them link to the proposed designs for Ardrossan Connections.

Hierarchy of Road Users

The introduction to the Highway Code will now include a Hierarchy of Road Users. This ensures that the road users who could do the most harm in a collision have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger they may pose to others. Those who are most likely to be severely injured in the event of a collision are at the top of the hierarchy, in particular children, older adults, and disabled people.

The hierarchy rule does not remove the need for everyone to behave responsibly and it is important that all road users are considerate of others, understanding their responsibility for others’ safety.

By placing those who are most vulnerable at the top, like people with sight, mobility or hearing impairments, the User Hierarchy reminds everyone of the importance of using public space with consideration and empathy.

Giving way at junctions

When people are waiting to cross or already crossing at a junction, traffic approaching the junction should give way. If people have started crossing and traffic wants to turn into the road, people crossing have priority and the traffic should give way. Traffic refers to motor vehicles and cycles.

If people on cycles or horse are travelling straight ahead at a junction, those waiting to turn into or out of a junction should not cut across them. This applies whether there is a cycle lane in place or if the person is travelling on the road.

Within the proposed designs for Ardrossan Connections, there are a number of continuous footways. These are continuous cycle track and footway layouts across side roads that provide a route for cycle users and pedestrians that provides a strong visual indication of pedestrian priority over approaching and turning traffic. You can view the proposals and feedback on these under the 'Crossing the Street' section of the design proposals.

Shared Use Paths

There has also been updates on the rules regarding the routes that pedestrians, horse riders and cycles share which can be found in Ardrossan. This reminds cycles to respect pedestrians and horse riders safety by;. giving the other user plenty of room when passing; being prepared to slow down or stop and to let people know that they are there by ringing a bell or calling out politely. Pedestrians are asked to also take care when using these paths.

Other significant changes

Other important changes to the Highway Code that all road users should be aware of are:

• Safer passing distances and speeds when motor vehicles are overtaking pedestrians, cycles and horse riders

• Using the ‘Dutch Reach’ method when opening a vehicles’ door. This is the act of using the arm closet to centre of vehicle to open the door, meaning that the person opening the door will look over their shoulder and out the window before opening.

• Positioning of cycles in the road, recommending riding in the centre of the lane in certain situations and keeping at least 0.5 metres away from kerb edge; can ride 2 a breast, but to be aware of people driving behind them and allow overtaking when it is safe to do so.

Our next event is happening tonight:

There’s still time to sign up to our next online workshop that’s getting in to the detail of the designs and is happening tonight ( Monday 24th January ) at 6:30pm . Come along to this online workshop on Zoom to learn more about, and share your views on, the detail of the designs, which include proposals for crossings, bus shelters, parking, and seating.

There’s still time to sign up to our workshops on the designs created for the Ardrossan Connections project. The first of the workshops will go ahead tomorrow and will be focussed on giving an overview of the initial designs. This is a great chance to find out more about the designs, ask any questions you have for the team, and discuss and provide any feedback. Please see below for more information on signing up to this and future events.

Wednesday 19th January at 7pm : Come along to an online workshop on Zoom to hear the project team give an overview of the initial designs for Ardrossan Connections and share your views.

Get involved in the Ardrossan Connections Project’s design stage

Sustrans Scotland has partnered with North Ayrshire Council and Ardrossan Community Development Trust on the Ardrossan Connections Project which aims to enhance walking, cycling, and wheeling routes by shaping a more accessible, safe, and welcoming centre of Ardrossan.

The designs have been created through engagement with the community to identify the barriers and opportunities that the project should address. Now the initial designs have been created, we are looking for feedback from people who live, work, or travel through Ardrossan. We have a number of upcoming events to do this.

We would love for anyone who lives, works, or travels through Ardrossan to come along to any of the events below. If you have any friends, family, or colleagues who may also be interested, then please share this information with them.

Online events – beginning on Wednesday 19th January.