FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is Active Travel?
Active Travel simply means making journeys in physically active ways:
- Walking (or running, or pushing a pram)
- Cycling (including riding an adapted bike or e-bike)
- Wheeling (travelling by wheelchair, mobility scooter, scooter, skateboard, roller skates, roller blades, roller skis… and so on…).
The Scottish Government’s aim is to make Active Travel the natural choice for short journeys, removing our reliance on motorised vehicles, reducing carbon emissions, and improving air quality, as well as the nation’s health and mental health.
What is an Active Travel Route?
An active travel route prioritises people making journeys actively; ensuring people walking, cycling and wheeling feel safe on their travels. An active travel route can come in many shapes and forms, e.g:
- Footway
- Shared-use path
- Segregated cycleway
- Street with reduced motor vehicle access or reduced traffic speed
Though, colloquially, the Lossiemouth – Hopeman project has often been referred to as a “cycle path” or “cycle track”, LoMATR is not planning to build a dedicated route solely for cyclists – it will be an active travel route; an all abilities route; for everyone – people walking, cycling, and wheeling.
Is creating an Active Travel Route, for everyone, not just over-engineering the problem, making it less likely to happen for anyone?
Confident cyclists will already cycle between Hopeman and Lossiemouth, either taking their chances on the national speed limit B9040 road, as the most direct route; following one of the core paths on a mountain or gravel bike; or taking a slightly more circuitous route via quieter back roads.
Due to the constraints of land use between Covesea and Lossiemouth, the current options for walking, cycling or wheeling are:
- West Beach – difficult terrain at low tide, cut off at high tide
- High Tide Path – difficult terrain through sand dunes
- The verge of the B9040 – unsafe due to bends and poor sightlines
- Drainie Road (south of RAF base) – adding 3 miles/ 5 kilometres to route
None of these routes are viable options for most people walking, running, using a wheelchair or mobility scooter, or pushing a pram. It is unlikely parents would allow their children to use these options to travel to and from school, or to visit friends in nearby settlements.
An active travel route, for everyone, would allow more people to walk, cycle, and wheel for short journeys between the coastal communities.
Why does the path need to be 3 metres wide?
All infrastructure projects are subject to design standards. In the case of active travel projects in Scotland, the design standards in question are Transport Scotland’s Cycling By Design.
This standard outlines that a bi-directional multi-user path must be a minimum width of 3 metres / 10 foot, in order to accommodate all different sizes and shapes of bicycles, wheelchairs, and mobility scooters, allowing them to manoeuvre in comfort, and ensuring users can pass each other safely, minimising user conflict.
Will horses be allowed on the route?
Equestrians will be most welcome on the route – our aim is to make the route available and accessible to all, as far as is possible.
It might be that the route will be constructed with a bituminous surface (tarmac/ asphalt), which we know is not the preference of equestrians, but is the preferred surface according to the design standards, due to the low maintenance requirements and increased accessibility for people wheeling.
Should the primary route be unsuitable for horses, and should space allow, we will try to include a parallel route for equestrians.
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Our News And Events
NEGOTIATING WITH MORAY GOLF CLUB IN 2025 (A PROMISED MEETING THAT NEVER HAPPENS)
Our charity - Laich of Moray Active Travel Routes ("LoMATR") - wants to see the construction of an Active Travel Route ("ATR") between Lossiemouth and Hopeman. The probable first phase of the ATR would be to connect Lossiemouth to COVESEA (WEST OF Silver Sands Caravan...
The Scottish Outdoor Access Code & Golf Courses
A recent article in the Press & Journal entitled 'Inside the fight to save historic Moray Golf Club from being trampled into sea by walkers' outlines Moray Golf Club's concerns related to losing part of the course due to coastal erosion. The Club believes this...
Join Us At Our AMM
We would like to invite all members and friends of Laich of Moray Active Travel Routes to our Annual Members’ Meeting. So much progress has been made since our last AMM and our campaign for an active travel route between Lossiemouth and Hopeman has gained a lot more...
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