Draft Infrastructure Investment Plan – 2021-22 to 2025-26

Aberdeen City Council broadly agrees with the revised definition and would suggest it is complemented with the inclusion in the final infrastructure investment plan of sub-definitions for all of the infrastructure components. While the revised definition references natural infrastructure this could be supplemented with a sub-definition of natural infrastructure which clarifies and expands on what could be considered natural; e.g. natural settings, rewilded settings, public parks etc.

The common investment hierarchy echoes other national documents such as the National Transport Strategy and the Scottish Government’s Circular Making Things Last a Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland. Making use of existing assets has been a refrain of transport policy for a number of years, Aberdeen City Council's Roads Hierarchy is aligned with this hierarchy which looks at revising our existing roads to make them better serve all modes of transport.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) have been built into the Infrastructure Commission’s work to date and alluded to in the hierarchy. Likewise, the UNSDGs are key drivers Aberdeen City’s Local Outcomes Improvement Plan and its recently published Propose Local Development Plan 2020. As such mechanisms need to be built into the common investment hierarchy which take account of an infrastructure project’s ability to enable the transition to net zero transition, improvements in communities health and wellbeing and economic opportunities which underpin the UNSDGs.

The hierarchy is considered broadly positive while there needs to be a recognition that some infrastructure projects, in the short term, may not completely align with all of the overarching aims of the commission. For example,

• Non-car forms of transport, it may not be enough to sweat an existing asset (such as a road); in many cases the creation of an entirely new facility may be the only way of achieving the desired objectives such a behavioural change and modal shift away from private car use. Dedicated new infrastructure such as segregate bikes lanes will need to be delivered.

The Investment of over £2.8 billion in direct capital grant funding, over 5 years, to deliver more affordable and social homes is welcomed. This will continue to ensure the right types of homes in the right places reflecting and supporting Local Housing Strategies and regional development priorities. Local Authorities need to know what their Resource Planning Assumption’s will be for the next 5 years in order to develop a delivery pipeline for new homes. Aberdeen City Council’s Housing Programme aims to address a long-term shortage of affordable social rented housing in the city and has a vision to create sustainable integrated communities and places, delivering affordable homes designed for life, which meet citizens current and changing needs, supporting the wellbeing and resilience of our tenants. Much progress on this has been made but the ability to have ongoing funds to deliver a steady stream of quality social housing will mean new schemes which may not fully align with the hierarchy. The use of brownfield sites should be considered as a component of social housing meeting the hierarchy however there will be projects where the only option is new build on greenfield sites in order to meet essential housing need and this should not be an inhibitor to funding and delivery.

It is recommended that there be increased focus on empty homes and buy back schemes which would align with the hierarchy and also help to delivery its themes. This would be further assisted by the use of Compulsory Sales Orders - these could be used to compel owners of long-term empty homes to place them on the open market for sale. The use of CSO’s would meet the objectives of the Plan in terms of making best use of existing resources in the hierarchy of need.

Each city or region will have its own unique strengths and assets which it will gravitate towards and focus investment on. Aberdeen as a City is rightly recognised internationally as the energy capital of Europe and therefore holds a unique position within Scotland and the UK as a whole. Its peers are located outside of the Scotland as it competes on a global scale.

Historically oil production grew rapidly throughout the 1970s, spurred on by the 1973 and 1979 oil crises. The UK became a net exporter of oil in the early 1980s and of gas in the early 1990s. The boom benefitted key industrial centres including Aberdeen and is therefore engrained in the economics, history and identity of the city.

The City is determined to maintain this position and as an innovator and as such Aberdeen is at the forefront of energy advancements and the energy transition. Investment in infrastructure to not only compete at an international level but to lead the energy transition will help to maintain the above average contribution Aberdeen City makes to the national economy.

Aberdeen City Council recently agreed its Net Zero Vision which includes key components such as:

• supporting the necessary changes in Scottish land use that will underpin net zero,
• switching to low-carbon heat and improved energy and resource efficiency in industry,
• embracing the work of the energy sector and offshore sector in becoming a net zero producing basin and the Energy Transition Zone.

The Vision aligns with the other regional documents such as the Strategic Development Plan 2020, the Regional Economic Strategy, the Regional Transport Strategy and the Proposed Local Development Plan 2020.

Such strategic intentions must now be viewed in the context of the current pandemic. Cities are taking a major financial hit through increased costs for public health and social care, even as revenues from taxes and local services such as transport have nosedived. The pressure is mounting for cities to support businesses, generate jobs, and restore public services.

It will not be possible to return to the old normal as the pandemic has highlighted urban vulnerabilities, such as the need for public services, quality housing, sufficient public space, and arresting patterns of development that exacerbate both the impacts of climate change and the spread of disease. Therefore, City’s and their development can catalyse a historic transition, one that takes steps to both recover from the pandemic and tackle climate change by moving towards development that is sustainable, resilient and includes everyone.

This however will not be achievable unless City’s are given autonomy over funding in order to be innovative and agile in meeting these challenges. Many City’s find it difficult to access enough finance, given challenges related to intergovernmental fiscal structures, regulatory environments, creditworthiness, bankability, and project pipelines. To chart a recovery that puts the pandemic behind us and is also climate smart and inclusive, they must access substantial and innovative financing, starting now and committed to in the National Infrastructure Plan.

Investments will be required in key sectors, including energy, transport, buildings, water and waste systems. And this will need to be done in a very inclusive and participatory manner, including by giving a voice to urban communities, particularly the most vulnerable.

Aberdeen City Council aims to achieve more compact urban growth, more connected and resilient infrastructure, and more coordinated governance. These in turn can boost employment opportunities and long-term urban productivity, and yield far-reaching environmental and social benefits.

Aberdeen City Council is supportive that the indicators have incorporated the UNSDGs . This is consistent with the approach we have adopted at a local level where the UNSDG’s are included in both our Community Planning partnership Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) and the Proposed Local Development Plan.

In order to measure the outcomes, they will need to be built into and align with documents such as the National Transport Strategy, the emerging National Planning Framework and Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 and then also link into the local systems of outcomes measurement frameworks in place across CPP and individual bodies. Measuring the succession of a national infrastructure plan and other such national strategic documents would benefit from cross working with Health and Social Care Partnerships as they will have data and a frameworks which can focus more on the human benefits as opposed to the more traditional economic output measurements. The health priorities for Scotland could also be addressed via continual emersion of the UNSDG into wider plans and strategies at a regional and local level.

Aberdeen City Council is supportive of such assessment with the caveat that benefits and disbenefits of investment in new infrastructure is considered holistically. The Scottish Cities Alliance is a grouping of the four largest cities in Scotland and offers a platform for economic change. The SCA’s vision includes a shift to a low carbon economy. The SCA has worked with Aberdeen and the other Scottish cities to accelerate the rollout of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles. Ten hydrogen powered buses – Europe’s largest fleet – now run on two routes within the city.

The SCA will continue to explore the potential for the rollout of this technology to other Scottish cities. In addition, the Alliance has commissioned work to identify economically-advantageous low carbon opportunities to improve city resilience. Through the EU-funded STEPUP Programme, the Alliance has secured support for cities to enhance their Strategic Energy Action Plans and benefit from knowledge exchange and best practice in the development of innovative energy projects.

Consideration should be given to the efforts being made by Cities in decarbonising their assets , services and economies. Those leading the change can further support the development of monitoring mechanisms to understand what investments make meaningful impacts in meeting Scotland’s emissions targets.

No comment on the baseline of the SEA.

No comment on the content of the SEA.

No comment on the content of the SEA.