SustAccess

Bridging Environment and Transportation

What is SustAccess

SustAccess is a European Union sponsored project within the Interreg North Sea Programme.

SustAccess is short for Sustainable Accessibility between Hinterlands and Gateways around the North Sea.

The overall aims of SustAccess are on the one hand to make gateways more accessible from their hinterlands and on the other to support an increased use of more sustainable modes of transport. Partner activities and pilot projects include a wide variety of activities such as supporting the development of different gateway cities and their connection to their hinterland or improving public transport and making it more accessible.

IT Hot Stops Project

Huntly Learning Centre

What is the Business Travel Reduction Project?

As part of the SustAccess Project, Aberdeenshire Council has set up two IT Hot Stop offices in the north east to provide local business and community groups with free access to meeting areas equipped with the latest Information and Communications Technology (ICT), including PCs for hot-desk working, video-conferencing equipment and wi-fi access, enabling free internet access for those with their own laptop PCs.

The aim of the Project is to provide locations suitable for remote working and meetings without travel and thereby contribute to the work the Council already does to promote travel awareness, reduce congestion and emissions, and at the same time support the local business community by improving the accessibility of businesses in rural areas.

The Project’s objectives include:

  • To reduce business mileage and the need to travel for business activities, such as meetings
  • The provision of facilities for the wider community
  • To improve the accessibility of communities in rural Aberdeenshire
  • To increase linked trips in the local communities served by the business centres
  • To increase awareness of ICT in the local communities.

The Hotspot, 1-3 Kirk Street, Peterhead, AB42 1RT

Near Peterhead town centre the SustAccess office has recently moved to The Hotspot, 1-3 Kirk Street, Peterhead having originally been located at the Burnside Business Centre. You can find out more by calling 01779 871450.

Huntly Learning Centre, 83 Gordon Street, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, AB54 8FG.

Huntly Learning CentreA second SustAccess pilot IT Hot Stop has been established in the Huntly Learning Centre in Huntly. This centre is being run in conjunction with Banff and Buchan College, and also helps to support the Aberdeenshire Towns Partnership Huntly Strategy. Whilst this centre is also being marketed to local businesses and individuals keen to work remotely and reduce their business mileage, it is felt that this centre will be of great benefit to the wider community, including school groups and students. The flyer provides further details on the facilities available in the IT Hot Stop in Huntly. For more information contact us by telephoning us on 01466 793204 or by faxing 01466 794586.

What will I find in each office

Each office is located in a fully serviced building and has facilities such as:

  • PCs with office applications and Internet access
  • Small and large meeting areas
  • Video and web conferencing facilities
  • Wi-Fi access, enabling free internet access for those with their own laptop PCs
  • Access to printers
  • Access to a fax machine

The success of the project is being measured by a short questionnaire that office users are asked to complete to record their journey and cost savings each time they use the facilities. The success of the project will also be used to inform whether there is potential to ‘roll-out’ this initiative to other areas in Aberdeenshire.

As part of the IT Hot Stop project, Aberdeenshire Council have formed a Partnership with Aberdeen College. This allows free usage of their video-conferencing unit to either of the two IT Hot Stops. This brings free connection from rural areas to the city centre and accessibility to technology.

Please call us on 01224 612 208 for booking or more information.

The SustAccess Aberdeenshire Park and Ride Review

The Park and Ride Review was conducted into the development of inter-urban park and ride sites within Aberdeenshire, to compare the performance of the Ellon Park and Ride site with other comparable sites in Scotland and the UK, highlighting particular instances of local and UK wide best practice. The results of this review are being used to aid the identification of further areas for development in Aberdeenshire, supporting the aims, objectives and output targets of the council's LTS and also to input to work by the Regional Transport Partnership examining all Park and Ride options across the North East Scotland. The final report on the Park and Ride study is available below:

The SustAccess Regional Rail Freight Study

The Development of a Regional Rail freight Study (in partnership with NESTRANS) has now been published as part of the SustAccess programme. The report is available below:

The SustAccess Transport Problems and Solutions Study

This study involved the use of a travel questionnaire to gather information, by telephone interviews, on the key issues and problems in the current transportation network in Aberdeenshire. The findings of this study have been used to inform the development of the Council's Local Transport Strategy (LTS).

Contact

For further details, please contact SustAccess Project Co-ordinator on 01224 664092 or email sustaccess@aberdeenshire.gov.uk