Sadly, a Council committee meeting on Wednesday 26th August rejected a Liberal Democrat proposal to remove both the “Spaces for People” changes in the city centre and the hospitality marquees in bus lanes. 

Instead Conservative, SNP and Labour councillors decided to leave things as they are discuss the issue again in November.

People were told the Spaces for People changes were only temporary – and the Liberal Democrats believe the Council should stick to this and now remove the changes to roads layouts in the city centre.

The Spaces for People changes have caused disruption to bus services and inconvenience for many bus users. Whist this was an unfortunate consequence of changes made for public health reasons, there can be no excuse for keeping these changes in place any longer than is necessary. My colleagues and I believe it is important buses and their passengers have access to the entire length of Union Street in the run up to Christmas. We also believe it is important buses and cyclists are able to use bus the lanes – and that means removing the hospitality marquees from the bus lanes.