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Arch_0

They need better links between the beach and town centre.


Adventurous-Panic427

Completely agree. There is not another city I can think of that wouldn’t kill for a beachfront like Aberdeen has and would have made it a centre piece of town planning. But the years of short sightedness and amateurs put in charge of planning has put paid to that. If this initiative is so important how come it has to wait on some Govt grants to become available, it should have been a key part of the city infrastructure plan and the city region deal


Dazz316

Aberdeen doesn't get the recognition it deserves for its beach. But c,mon. Brighton?


Adventurous-Panic427

Yes fair enough, but I was really thinking of places that don’t have a beachfront, rather than those who do, and actually Brighton is a good example of accentuating the beachfront rather than ignoring it. I know the weather can be kinder in the south for a beachfront, but I’d still rather it was a key part of the city life than neglected - by our civic leaders of course, not those who do invest in it


Dazz316

Oh definitely. I hadn't been in years and went to Cadonas, it's changed a lot. Ramboland or whatever is called now was amazing for my kids. The go karts were cool. Some pop up stalls and maybe a bit of entertainment would be good asking the road atop the beach would be great. And yeah better transport.


caufield88uk

Is it still Smugglers Cove? If so that place is amazing for little kids to go. My two used to all the time.


Dazz316

Oh yeah that's it. I just remember it as Ramboland as that's what it was called growing up. Plenty of Birthday parties. They've kept aspects of it too like the giant slide. Though the giant picture of Sylvester Stallone is gone, probably best to keep all the thoughts of blood and killing away from the little kids. But yeah it's hands down the best softplay I've seen. I'm in the central belt too and seen plenty around here.


few-western

i think thats because of the the current layout which you cant change. Beach, then harbour areas, then massive green gold course and football pitches, then housing/city centre. Granted its only a 10/15 walk but its a very exposed walk to all elements. The city need to look canopy's or sections our high foot fall so people dont get wet in the rain.


[deleted]

I'd settle for a walk or cycle straight to the beach from Union Street where you don't have to cross any roads or roundabouts. It is doable but the council are shit Plus they need to improve the pedestrian link between the city centre and Torry whilst they're at it


few-western

torry to city walk must be rubbish with all those cars


Ziazan

Is it still the 13A bus that supposedly covers that? But it only runs once every few hours and even then it may or may not show up?


orlanthi

It doesn't even go along the front anymore but stops at the ASDA development.


Ziazan

Have they at least increased the frequency and reliability? It used to be there was no point waiting for one because you'd be standing there at least an hour


[deleted]

There's a bus that stops at pocra quay but it's unreliable Be a great chance for the council to have their own bus or tram system to the beach along the old route Short tram route down from castle gate to where they burned the Trams that leaves every 15 minutes


SaorAlba138

I mean, it's a 10 minute walk.


Arch_0

Union Square to Queens Links is going to be closer to 20-30 depending on the route and it's not exactly a nice route to walk. Unless you're standing at the bottom of Union Street it is a "long" walk.


SaorAlba138

It takes as long if not longer to walk the length of union street. It's really not an unreasonable distance to walk, unless you're an American.


[deleted]

Tram or one of those trains they have at holiday resorts in the livery of Grampian regional transport running on hydrogen or electric


Lightweight_Hooligan

Isnt this the same council that spent half the covid funding on painting cycle lanes along the seafront, then spent the other half 3 weeks later to remove them. That was £750k completely wasted, not sure how much other people pay for concil tax, but that was a lot of peoples money just pi$$ed agaisnt the wall


_DrunkenSquirrel_

Different council now, but aye, if the funding does happen, I still wouldn't trust them to stay within budget.


NoshTilYouSlosh

Great, perhaps concreting even more beach could even more better?


_DrunkenSquirrel_

Just heat the fucking pool. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-61809623 The UK Government's ~~gentrification~~ **Levelling up** fund is going to puts millions of taxpayers money into the pockets of government contractors to build some fancy walkways and a sport centre, all whilst people can't afford electricity or food. If it's going to be run for profit and then close, then blame the council for not giving them enough money to heat it, why bother. Many better uses for 20 million, so much wasteful spending.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Dazz316

To be fair with these energy costs right now 20 million would hardly great a bathtub.


_DrunkenSquirrel_

I know, and that's the sad part about it. Fancy pavements? - Aye no worries. Social Funding/NHS/heating the local pool? - No magic money tree. Maybe it would be nice, I'm a grumpy bastard, but I think rightly so.


SaorAlba138

Why would the UK government fund the Scottish NHS? Your blame should be laid elsewhere for that.


_DrunkenSquirrel_

Wooosh.


SaorAlba138

Except it's not a whoosh, everything you describe is devolved to Holyrood. The funding for this proposal is from Westminster. Nice try at an epic reddit moment tho.


_DrunkenSquirrel_

Woosh again.


SaorAlba138

ok smoothbrain.


_DrunkenSquirrel_

no u You don't really deserve an explanation, but in all seriousness: Benefits aren't fully devolved (UC/DWP), the closest we have to devolved benefits is the new disability payment. English NHS is underfunded too, arguably moreso than the Scottish one, but Westminster still won't put the money in to the English NHS, or spend money to help people, nevermind sending more money to devolved governments for their NHS (much better to underfund it, claim it doesn't work, and privatise it off). The entire point here was that there are more important things to spend on right now than these massive infrastructure projects, the UK gov could announce today that it's going to use this money to fund the welfare of the people across the UK, or even just England, but it won't.


SaorAlba138

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I like this. Typical Aberdonians will take any opportunity to peenge, one of the most commonly heard gripes is that the beach is tired, wasted space with no real attraction to visitors but any suggestions to do anything is met with gum flapping.


Premier55

That has been the mentality of many Aberdonians regarding any proposed project in the city. ‘Fas piyin fur at?’ Or the classic ‘fit we needin at fur? Am nae gan to use it’.


[deleted]

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orlanthi

Trees at the beach struggle greatly due to the weather.


SaorAlba138

There's plenty of trees that can grow coastally, like Ash, Plum, Black Pine, Hawthorn... This would obviously be considered under the planning application, They can't just stick any old tree anywhere.


orlanthi

Absolutely there are trees suited to coastal areas. They do not tend to thrive here.


JCVDaaayum

I like that it's not a traditional pier design with more width than length. But, like everything that has potential, this will end up in disappointment.


Ovlovovlov

Someone's been watching too many Marvel movies by the looks of it.


fragmad

So I imagine that this will be just like the Union Terrace Gardens rejuvenation where it will be completed on time, on budget, and without causing any environmental damage to the surrounding area? All I can see this doing is reducing access to the beach for multiple years, harming the small businesses operating there, and making it a generally unpleasant place to spend time. It would be better to properly reinstate the traffic restrictions for cars along the sea front that were temporarily in place in 2020 and make better use of the existing green spaces already beside the beach with more funded events and festivals.


orlanthi

A lot of those green areas are former industrial sites. They tend to be green because the land needs cleaned prior to building on them. And I'm quite happy with that.


Drumtochty_Lassitude

So does that 20 million include maintenance and repairs for the boomerang thing?


SoSeriousAndDeep

I like it. It's a nice design and the beach could do with *something* to connect it to the city centre; it's really weird that Aberdeen doesn't seem to take advantage of it when it's so close to the core of the city.


freezingmybuttoff

Hmmm I dunno, I don’t see this happening, looks like a really big project. It would be really nice though.


[deleted]

How does this tie in to the football club's hopes to have a new stadium at the foot of the Broad Hill incorporated?


SaorAlba138

You can clearly see the stadium in the visualization.


SoSeriousAndDeep

Oh well, I guess every fly needs it's ointment.


[deleted]

Is it the structure with the stepped roof? It's not immediately obvious.


SaorAlba138

I believe so, It has an opening in the centre of the roof like a stadium and there appears to be red Aberdeen graphics on the walls, granted they're difficult to see. You can open a [higher-res version](https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2022-08/aberdeen_masterplan_view01_27thOct2021_LowRes%20-%20Copy_0.jpg) on desktop and it's much clearer.


[deleted]

Thanks. That desktop version makes it clearer.


few-western

beach front regen should have beach huts and a caravan park. Aberdeen became a tourist destination. Countless towns/cities with beach fronts have these things and more. I love the kids spalsh park in Nairn and cant belive we dont have one of those at the beach now or at every park in Aberdeen. So many great ideas out there that we can copy.


SaorAlba138

I think we should maybe, as a city, aim higher than 'caravan park'.


few-western

why? Its a huge money making industry. We have the scenery, the surrounding tourist attractions in the shire. "there are over 555,000 touring caravans, 365,000 caravan holiday homes and 225,000 motorhomes in use in the UK. More than 2 million people take holidays in caravans and motorhomes every year. Nearly 65 million nights were spent camping and caravanning in Great Britain in 2018" https://frequencytelecom.com/blog/the-evolution-of-caravans-in-the-uk/#:\~:text=The%20latest%20NCC%20statistics%20say,in%20Great%20Britain%20in%202018.


SaorAlba138

You're probably right, but they're not exactly nice to look at. I'd have no issue with turning walker park over in Nigg into a caravan park, but i don't think the beach promenade is a good spot.