Consultation Digest (Local) Issue 121, 13 October 2022

Events dear boy, events…

Two drop-in events on today – one for Liveable Neighbourhoods in Dennistoun, Glasgow. The other for a funding bid at the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility, North Lanarkshire. More events to come for St George’s Rd, Glasgow and in East Renfrewshire for the Clarkston and Eaglesham Local Action Plans.

The most eye-catching plans in this issue are for St George’s Rd and Charing Cross. As part of Connecting Woodside, it’s due to link to the existing route on Garscube Rd.

1: Current Consultations

1. Dennistoun to Cranhill Liveable Neighbourhoods drop-in event
2. Dummy Railway path
3. Ruchill Street Placemaking
4. Langside Monument public realm
5. Toryglen Streets for People
6. Greenock to Battery Park SfP lane
7. Irvine housing developments
8. Ravenscraig Levelling Up Fund bid
9. Meadowhead Road (Craigneuk) Active Travel and Road Safety Improvement
10. South Central Local Development Framework (SCLDF)
11. Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project Consultation
12. Loans to Troon active travel path – Phase 3
13. St George’s Road – Phase 2
14. Giffnock Local Action Plan map
15. Clarkston Local Action Plan map
16. Eaglesham Local Action Plan map

2: Consultation Feedback

1. Newton Mearns – Ayr Road Phase 1 shared path opens

3: Proposed Traffic Calming/Traffic Regulation Orders

1. East Dunbartonshire TROs
2. Glasgow City TROs
3. North Lanarkshire TROs

1: Current Consultations
(in date order for responses)

1.1: Dennistoun to Cranhill Liveable Neighbourhoods drop-in event

Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: An in-person event TODAY at Reidvale Centre, 13 Whitevale St, Glasgow G31 1QW. It’s about the potential projects in the LN Stage 1 report (which came out in August). The long list of 26 has gone to local ward councillors and Spatial Planning officers to help choose a shortlist. There are five initial projects: Dennistoun railway bridges (between Bellgrove station and Millerston St), Riddrie Town Centre (Smithycroft Rd), Carntyne Square, Hogarth Park improvements and Cranhill M8 bridge lighting. After the engagement event, these will go in a Stage 2 report to the council in late November.
Featured: Digest 118, Item 2.1.
Website links: LN drop-in event details (Dennistoun Community Council website).
Deadline: 13th October 10am–4pm.

1.2: Dummy Railway path

Council: Glasgow City.
Area: Path between Ruchill and Possilpark near Panmure St.
Subject: A confusing nickname given to at least two old railways around Possil (and one in Paisley). In this case it refers to the former line from Panmure St, north of the canal, to Balmore Rd. The current path is narrow and has some steps so the plan is to upgrade it and add links to existing housing and a new estate. This comes from the Ruchill to Cowlairs Liveable Neighbourhood project.
Featured: Digest 118, Item 1.8.
Website links: LN Tranche 2 projects ‘storymap’ and Dummy Railway survey
Deadline: 14 October 2022 (extended).

1.3: Ruchill Street Placemaking

Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: Another project from the Ruchill to Cowlairs Liveable Neighbourhood. The visuals showing cycling and walking are positive but it’s only an initial design. Whether or not Ruchill St ever looks anything like that may depend on the response to the consultation.
Featured: Digest 118, Item 1.9.
Website links: LN Tranche 2 projects ‘storymap’ and Ruchill St survey.
Deadline: 14 October 2022 (extended).

1.4: Langside Monument public realm

Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: A project from the Langside to Toryglen LN. It would change the road layout around the monument at the junction of Langside Ave and Battlefield Rd. Removing the road to the north of it would join it onto Queen’s Park near the glasshouse. Another feature would be adding trees and planting.
Featured: Digest 118, Item 1.10.
Website links: LN Tranche 2 projects ‘storymap’ and Langside Monument survey.
Deadline: 14 October 2022 (extended).

1.5: Toryglen Streets for People

Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: Another project from the Langside to Toryglen LN. This would link a network of paths and streets, like Lubas Ave and Ardnahoe Ave, and add trees and planting. Also, slides and colourful crossings feature in the visuals (perhaps inspired by multi-coloured crossings in Dumbarton and elsewhere).
Featured: Digest 118, Item 1.11.
Website links: LN Tranche 2 projects ‘storymap’ and Toryglen Streets for People survey.
Deadline: 14 October 2022 (extended).

1.6: Greenock to Battery Park SfP lane

Council: Inverclyde.
Subject: A Spaces for People temporary route between Greenock town centre and a coastal park. A vote by the council’s environment and regeneration committee was 9:2 in favour of keeping the lanes for another six months. A further review is due in September with the next committee meeting in late October. The photos in the consultation survey show a mixture of on-road ‘soft’ segregation and painted lanes on footways and across side roads. While some of the junction and bus stop treatments may not be ideal, there seem to be decent protected sections too.
Featured: Digest 108, Item 1.12.
Website links: Greenock Town Centre to Battery Park – Community Engagement and Inverclyde Now article on council vote.
Deadline: No obvious deadline.

1.7: Irvine housing developments

Council: North Ayrshire
Subject: Two sites are being redeveloped – part of Ayrshire Central Hospital’s grounds and Montgomerie Park in Irvine, either side of the A78. Both housing plans include accessible homes and walking/cycling links. Montgomerie Park seems to include a cycle path alongside the site, which links to an existing off-road path, but there isn’t much detail. Each development is due to have an in-person consultation event – Ayrshire Central Hospital on Tuesday 11 October and Montgomerie Park on Wednesday 26 October (no detail on venues/times).
Featured: Digest 120, Item 1.6.
Website links: Ayrshire Central Hospital consultation and Montgomerie Park consultation.
Deadline: 28 October 2022.

1.8: Ravenscraig Levelling Up Fund bid

Council: North Lanarkshire.
Area: Part of the former Ravenscraig Steelworks site between Motherwell and Wishaw.
Subject: ‘Proposals to develop a large site in Ravenscraig.’ However, it’s a relatively small part of the huge Ravenscraig site. Also, most of the money appears to go on groundworks for utilities. New active travel links would be mainly linking the new estate to existing paths. That would still leave the ‘missing link’ to the west of Robberhall Rd towards Coursington Rd. The bid for the former industrial site would go to the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund (without any hint of irony!).
Drop in event – Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility TODAY 13 October 2022 (2pm to 7.30pm). Comments have to go to the council by email: ravenscraigluf@northlan.gov.uk.
Website links: Ravenscraig Levelling Up Fund bid webpage.
Deadline: 28 October 2022.

1.9: Meadowhead Road (Craigneuk) Active Travel and Road Safety Improvement

Council: North Lanarkshire.
Area: Craigneuk area between Ravenscraig and Wishaw (near Shieldmuir train station).
Subject: ‘Take 2’ for this street after a previous attempt at active travel improvements hit the skids. The Meadowhead Rd plans from 2020 included rain gardens, speed chicanes and changes to car parking. Some residents took issue with the latter – the project was delayed and then lost funding. The new plans widen the north footway to a 3m shared path. The road is a bus route, which had ruled out speed bumps, but the new plans add half a dozen speed tables. A path already goes east from the Wishawhill Wood Pump Track to Wishaw’s Main St. Meadowhead Rd could connect between it and the recent Ravenscraig Active Travel Link path, going north to the new playpark by the Regional Sports Centre.
Featured: Digest 80, Item 1.2.
Website links: Meadowhead Rd consultation webpage and Meadowhead Rd ‘storymap’.
Deadline: 30 October 2022.

1.10: South Central Local Development Framework (SCLDF)

Council: Glasgow City.
Area: South of the river from Kinning Park round to Oatlands and down to Shawlands (excluding Pollokshields).
Subject: Toryglen is also included in the ‘South Central’ area for this Local Development Framework. Apparently, it’s less urgent than a Strategic Development Framework (SDF). The neighbourhoods involved vary from less well off Govanhill to affluent Strathbungo. Also, the map of the area shows how it overlaps with the Riverside SDF between the Barclays site and the Squinty Bridge.
Featured: Digest 118, Item 1.12.
Website links: Transforming Communities Glasgow webpage.
Deadline: 31 October 2022.

1.11: Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project Consultation

Council: East Dunbartonshire.
Subject: Lennoxtown is known as the site of Celtic FC’s training complex. Despite being at the foot of the Campsie Hills, its Main St is not as picturesque as its setting. It has had some regeneration, including Lennoxtown Hub, housing the library and health services. Now a previous improvement project from 2019 is restarting – an initial survey is due to lead to refreshed concept designs for the Main St.
Website links: Lennoxtown project page and survey.
Deadline: 31 October 2022.

1.12: Loans to Troon active travel path – Phase 3

Organisation: Ayrshire Roads Alliance (ARA).
Subject: Another second attempt at a consultation. This path and 2-way cycletrack built in Troon as a Places for Everyone project is to be extended to the village of Loans, South Ayrshire. ARA say: “Phase 3 will complement the completed Phase 1, from Troon Train Station to Dundonald Road via Harling Drive, and Phase 2, through Marr College playing fields to Muirhead Primary School.” This consultation has two options about which way to take the Buchan Rd path. Both are residential streets with on-street car parking – Lochlea Ave or North Dr (which leads to an existing path to Loans). A previous consultation had detailed plans for one-way streets but that isn’t mentioned this time. There’s a map to comment on and a detailed survey.
Featured: Digest 120, Item 1.9.
Website links: Loans to Troon consultation/survey and ARA consultation page.
Deadline: 4 November 2022.

1.13: St George’s Road – Phase 2

Council: Glasgow City.
Area: Part of the wider Connecting Woodside project.
Subject: St George’s Rd, including remodelling the dangerous Charing Cross junction. A 2-way protected cycletrack would run from there alongside the M8 (with two options for the crossing at Phoenix Rd). It then crosses from the south to north side of the road at Clarendon Place, which would be stopped up at its south end (and re-opened at north). The route would continue on the north side of St George’s Rd to meet the protected lane already built at Garscube Rd. Also, it would have new pedestrian crossings at Woodside Library, N Woodside Rd and St George’s in the Fields.
Drop in event – meet the Connecting Woodside project team at Woodside Library, 15:30 – 19:00 on 25 October 2022.
Website links: St George’s Rd consultation (foot of page), storymap and survey.
Deadline: 14 November 2022.

1.14: Giffnock Local Action Plan map

Council: East Renfrewshire.
Subject: Three further consultations on East Ren towns (following the five in Digest 112, June 2022). While each varies in size, all are relatively affluent and suburban areas south of Glasgow. All three have drop-in events but Giffnock’s took place earlier in the month. Giffnock includes Fenwick Rd, which had ‘soft segregation’ on its cycle lanes for a while before the temporary bollards were removed in spring (Digest 107). As well as the A77, a rail line goes through the town with only a handful of crossing points. The map has over 120 comments.
Website links: Giffnock Commonplace map.
Deadline: 14 November 2022.

1.15: Clarkston Local Action Plan map

Council: East Renfrewshire.
Subject: Clarkston’s consultation comes after its neighbour across the White Cart Water, Busby, had its turn in the summer. The southern edge of Clarkston includes Williamwood High School, off Eaglesham Rd (B767), the subject of a current cycle lane petition. The map has over 130 comments.
Drop in events – Clarkston Hall: Tuesday 18 October, 9.30am – 11am; Wednesday 19 October, 3pm – 7pm. 
Featured: Previous Clarkston consultation.
Website links: Clarkston Commonplace map.
Deadline: 14 November 2022.

1.16: Eaglesham Local Action Plan map

Council: East Renfrewshire.
Subject: While many of East Ren’s towns bleed into each other, Eaglesham is more rural, between Whitelee Wind Farm and East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire. Also, it’s less connected, without a rail line or cycle paths to nearby towns. The map has over 30 comments.
Drop in event – Eglinton Arms Hotel: Tuesday 1 November, 9.30am – 11am & 3.30pm – 7pm. 
Website links: Eaglesham Commonplace map.
Deadline: 14 November 2022.

2: Consultation Feedback

2.1: Newton Mearns – Ayr Road Phase 1 shared path opens

Council: East Renfrewshire.
Subject: Progress on one part of the A77 as the Phase 1 shared path route opened earlier in the month. It runs between North Hillhead Road and the M77 overbridge. Phase 2 would continue, in 1-way lanes, to the Malletsheugh roundabout – due to start construction in early 2023.
Featured: Digest 112, Item 1.7.
Website links: East Renfrewshire Council article.

3: Proposed Traffic Calming/TROs

3.1: East Dunbartonhire TROs

Areas: Bearsden, Bishopbriggs, Milton of Campsie, Kirkintilloch and Torrance.
Subject: Orders to redetermine footways and parking restrictions (including near the Bearsway).
Website links: Allander junction restrictions, Linnhe Ave etc restrictions, Macfarlane etc redetermination and Schools order Bishopbriggs etc restrictions.

3.2: Glasgow City Traffic Calming/TROs

Areas: City-wide.
Subject: TROs – There are the five ‘made’ TROs for Spaces for People projects plus proposed TROs for Leeside Dr and a few for Carmunnock Rd.
Traffic Calming – Linkwood Dr, Drumchapel; Wardie Rd, Easterhouse. 
Website links: Glasgow City Proposed TROs, Glasgow City Proposed Traffic Calming Schemes.

3.3: North Lanarkshire TROs

Areas: Bellshill and Glenmavis.
Subject: Orders to reduce speed limits on the A721 Motherwell Rd/Bellshill Rd and B802 Glenmavis Rd.
Website links: North Lanarkshire Live Consultations.