Consultation Digest (Local) Issue 155, 21 March 2024

At the root…

As Spring approaches, there's new life in grassroots Glasgow projects in the Southside, North East and some related projects in the West End. There's also city centre and Nextbike news. East Renfrewshire are going big with five projects at once. North Lanarkshire have neighbourhood conservation areas and a few traffic orders.

East Dunbartonshire look at the A803 corridor with drop-in event TODAY in Bishopbriggs. However, there's tragic news elsewhere in the area as a collision killed a 56-year old woman cycling on Manse Road, Bearsden. It involved an HGV driver, as many other fatal crashes have done in the past few months and previous years. GoBike would like to offer condolences to the woman's family and friends.

Sadly, Manse Road has previously been in the Digest due to a fatal crash in late 2019. In 2022, East Dunbartonshire Council added speed tables around that chicane. The latest incident happened near the junction with Drymen Road (where there's an entrance to the car park of Bearsden Early Years Centre). Two fatalities in five years raise questions about EDC's response. Should the road already have other measures like filtering, as we wondered in 2022? An online petition calling for immediate action already has over 1,000 signatures.

Section 1: Current Consultations
(in date order for responses)

1.1: Queen’s Park Community Consultation

Organisation: Queen's Park Working Group.
Subject: Revised plans for the park are due to be presented at a public event – 27 March 2024, from 4pm to 7pm, at Wellcroft Bowling Club. No further details are forthcoming but last time they involved both park and recreation ground.
Featured: Digest 144, Item 1.13.
Website links: Queen's Park event page.
Deadline: No obvious deadline (apart from event date on 27 March).

1.2: East Renfrewshire active travel projects (x5)

Council: East Renfrewshire.
Subject: Following the A77 Phase 3 consultation there are five more projects:

• A77 Active Corridor Phase 5+ – takes on the stretch of Ayr Rd/Fenwick Rd from Newton Mearns into Giffnock (where Spaces for People measures were added then removed).
• Clarkston–Muirend Active Corridor – Clarkston Road and two proposed new foot/cycle bridges across railway lines.
• Clarkston–Thornliebank Active Corridor – Rouken Glen, Eastwoodmains, Busby, and Eaglesham Roads.
• Lower Whitecraigs Community Link – Davieland Road and surrounding streets near Rouken Glen Park.
• Wytch Wood Community Link – improving paths to Patterton train station.

Visualisations show some potential changes including Dutch-style roundabouts, continuous pavements and side-by-side pedestrian/cycle crossings (similar to existing ones in East Kilbride).
Additional engagement events – two were added but one has already passed. The remaining drop-in event: Giffnock Library on Tuesday 26 March, 10am until 7pm.
Website links: East Renfrewshire Commonplace site.
Deadline: 31 March 2024.

1.3: North Woodside Road (Outdoor Public Space)

Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: This started as an idea from Websters Theatre for a temporary public events space in the cul-de-sac outside their building. It was put forward for a council programme called Animating Spaces but has since become part of the wider Connecting Woodside project. The latest plans feature a path, dropped kerb, cycle hire station and rain garden. The street is a useful link between the Kelvin Way and Great Western Road (and doesn’t currently have a drop kerb). While the plan might seem modest, removing two car parking spaces to fit it in might still get a negative reaction from some in the West End.
Featured: Digest 75, 1.1 (originally as “Websters Theatre – A New Public Space at Kelvinbridge”).
Website links: N Woodside Rd storymap and N Woodside Rd survey
Deadline: 12 April 2024.

1.4: Conservation Area Consultations (Coatbridge/Cumbernauld)

Council: North Lanarkshire.
Subject: Two consultations about lesser known Conservation Areas. The Coatbridge one is either side of Blairhill train station and the other is in Cumbernauld Village (the original settlement north of the town centre). While not directly related to cycling, the last few survey questions mention traffic and development.
Website links: Coatbridge: Blairhill and Dunbeth Conservation Area Consultation and Cumbernauld Village Conservation Area Consultation.
Deadline: 12 April 2024.

1.5: A803 Stage 2

Council: East Dunbartonshire (and Glasgow CC/City Deal).
Subject: The A803 includes Springburn Rd and Kirkintilloch Rd between North Glasgow and Bishopbriggs. Consultation in 2022 (with Atkins) led to three route options (by Arcadia).
Option 1 – bus lanes (mostly southbound) with nothing for cycling.
Option 2 – some southbound bus lanes and a shared path for walking/cycling. Except near Bishopbriggs town centre it zigzags off into a ‘quietway’ cycle route. Then back to a shared path before it gives up at Hawthorn St.
Option 3 – some sections of 2-way cycleway in north Bishopbriggs then shared path/quietway again until Hawthorn St (where it “will tie into a proposed cycle route that Glasgow City Council is developing”). However, what would happen in the meantime? Alternatives would include using grass verges/upgrading existing paths or actually taking road space from the A803 dual carriageway. However, EDC doesn't offer those options.
Drop-in event: TODAY 21 March between 1pm – 7pm at Bishopbriggs War Memorial Hall, Balmuildy Road, G64 3BS.
Website links: A803 Stage 2 storymap and A803 public consultation page (with downloads of plans for Option 1, Option 2 and Option 3).
Deadline: 21 April 2024.

1.6: Connecting Yorkhill and Kelvingrove

Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: Former ‘Cycling Village’ bid by YoKeCoCo (big Sustrans funding winner back in 2019). Since the pandemic it's been rebranded as a GCC ‘Connecting…’ project.
Phase 1 – Yorkhill North includes previous plans for Radnor St, Haugh Rd, Gilbert St and Sandyford St (between Kelvin Way and SWG3). Another 2-way cycleway up Yorkhill St would link to infrastructure on Old Dumbarton Rd (behind the Kelvin Hall).
Phase 2 – widen footways along Kelvinhaugh St and add 1-way cycleways at the wide Argyle St junction.
Phase 3 – add bidirectional cycleways on Derby St to link from Kelvinhaugh St, across Argyle St and Sauchiehall St, to Kelvingrove Park.
Phase 4 – look at Corunna Street and Minerva Street (near Exhibition Centre train station). Also, there will be changes to car parking provision to better match the number of spaces and permit holders (currently two of the latter on Kelvinhaugh St for 203 spaces!).
Drop-in event: Thursday 18 April 2024 at 3.30–7pm in The Pyramid at Anderston, 759 Argyle Street, Glasgow G3 8DS.
See below for related Liveable Neighbourhoods projects and Traffic Regulation Order.
Website links: Connecting Y&K storymap and Connecting Y&K survey.
Deadline: 28 Apr 2024.

1.7: Yorkhill to Anderston: Liveable Neighbourhoods

Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: The above Connecting Yorkhill and Kelvingrove work means the Liveable Neighbourhoods projects focus on Anderston (and part of Sandyford). These include adding some cycleways to the West City Way and tweaks to other sections. So, there's a new cycleway for the quieter bit of Argyle St between the Buttery and Pyramid, near St Patrick's Primary School. Some raised tables removed and the Elderslie St/Argyle St corner is remodelled. New 1-way cycleways go north of St Vincent St with a revised crossing on Elderslie St. Also, Kent Rd would get a 1-way section and some greenery. However, there are no upgrades for Berkeley St – the bus boarder and junctions at Elderslie St and Claremont St (near the Gaelic School) are untouched. North Claremont St is still disrupted by building work but it's hard to follow the logic of the rest. Hopefully, the joint consultation event will provide some answers (18 April, as above). Also, these works raise questions about the level of provision in other LN areas.
Website links: Yorkhill–Anderston LN storymap, Anderston LN survey and Yorkhill to Anderston consultation (on GCC's LN webpage).
Deadline: 28 Apr 2024.

1.8: Flourishing Molendinar

Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: A project started by St Paul's Youth Forum and their On Bikes team. Their original base is on Langdale St, Blackhill which had one of the first Spaces for People streets created during lockdown. More SfP streets followed on Royston Rd, Provanmill Rd and Cumbernauld Rd before the wider project was taken over by Glasgow City Council. These (very) detailed draft plans would make those protected lanes permanent and add a new public space in the middle of Langdale St (on a block with no houses facing onto it). Also, they'd add crucial connections to places like Smithycroft High School, taming junction 12 of the M8 motorway in the process.
Public Drop in Events: Wednesday 24 / Thursday 25 April 2024, 3pm – 7pm.
Molendinar Community Centre, 1210 Royston Road, Glasgow G33 1HE
Website links: FloMo poster, FloMo plans sheet 1, FloMo plans sheet 2 and FloMo plans sheet 3.
Deadline: 13 May 2024.

Section 2: Consultation Feedback

2.1: City Centre Strategy 2024-30 approved

Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: A report to today's City Administration Committee included information on city centre footfall – daytime footfall has recovered, night-time is up slightly but still below pre-pandemic levels (partly due to transport issues). The report also covered retail, office and residential development plus the Avenues project. “The new strategy will be overseen by the City Centre Taskforce, co-chaired by Councillor Millar and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stuart Patrick, and with input from the public and private sectors.”
Website links: GCC webpage about City Centre Strategy and CAC meeting agenda.

2.2: OVO/Nextbike price increases

Organisation: Nextbike by TIER.
Subject: Significant changes to the rates for Glasgow's hire bikes according to a statement on Nextbike Glasgow's (unofficial) Facebook page. The rate for 20-minute rides are up to £2/£3.50 (was £1/£2), monthly subscriptions up to £24 and annual subscriptions being scrapped. Some replies to this Reddit thread about the price increases suggest the company have lost a subsidy but it's not clear if that's the reason behind the rises (or theft/vandalism, maintenance costs, etc.). GoBike have asked Nextbike for comment.
Website links: Cost of hiring OVO bikes in Glasgow set to rise (Glasgow Times).

Section 3: Proposed Traffic Regulation Orders

3.1: East Dunbartonshire TROs

Subject: Order about disabled car parking spaces.
Website links: East Dunbartonshire TROs.

3.2: Glasgow City TROs and Traffic Calming

Subject: Orders for various projects have been ‘made’ including Connecting Woodside routes on St George's Rd and North East Active Travel Routes (NEATR). Yorkhill Area and Radnor Street (to ban driving or parking in the new lanes – Deadline: 01 Apr 2024) and Duke St and John Knox St (Deadline: 12 April 2024).
Website links: GCC Proposed Traffic Regulation Orders and GCC Proposed Traffic Calming Schemes.

3.3: North Lanarkshire TROs

Subject: Centre Park Court changes to ambulance-only area outside Coatbridge Health Centre (on part of NCN Route 75). Deadline: 27 March 2024.
Changes to restrictions on the pedestrian part of Graham St and on Wellwynd (next to New Wellwynd Parish Church). Deadline: 19 April 2024.
Website links: Centre Park Court Coatbridge Variation Order and .