Consultation Digest (Local) Issue 85, 27 April 2021

A few consultations from the shires and feedback from Glasgow.

This is the third Digest during the quieter pre-election period. If you want to know what some of the candidates had to say about cycling, you can watch a video of GoBike's Hustings event. You can also see Pedal on Parliament getting their message across.

This Digest has news about Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire. There's also some feedback about developments in Glasgow.

Since COVID-19 restrictions are easing, the usual editor is away and the previous editor is filling in. So, there are no links to jump to the topics this time (knowledge update required!). However, things are still a bit quiet so it shouldn't take long to scroll through.

Contents
(new consultations in bold)

Section 1: Current Consultations

1. East Dunbartonshire Council – Climate Conversation (until 2 May)
2. North Lanarkshire Council – Town Hubs location surveys
3. Glasgow Urban Sports – GUSM74 Urban Sports Sculpture Park survey

Section 2: Forthcoming Consultations

None this time.

Section 3: Consultation Feedback

1. Glasgow City Council – Hill Street Temporary Traffic Regulation Order
2. Glasgow City Council – St. Andrews Drive Sustainable Transport Route
3. Community Action Lanarkshire – Make Your Way, Key Links consultation
4. Multiplex – Glasgow Uni newsletter April 2021

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

1.1: East Dunbartonshire Council – Climate Conversation

EDC's ongoing Climate Conversation was first covered in Digest 82, Item 1.7. It is due to feed into a Climate Action Plan then, following on from that, an Active Travel Strategy. So, it should set the tone for any future active travel development in East Dunbartonshire (assuming there is any after EDC ignored Spaces for People and stopped the Bears Way).

The workshops have all finished now but the consultation is still open. This is your last chance to comment before it closes on 2 May.

1.2: North Lanarkshire Council – Town Hub Location Survey

The Town Hub consultation first featured in Digest 81, Item 1.2. Following the workshops in March, the next phase is gathering opinions about the site options. The Hubs are about using school refurbishments (or other redevelopment) to deliver wider community facilities. While not strictly about cycling, the new hubs should be made easy to access by bike/active travel. The areas involved are: Airdrie, Bellshill, Coatbridge, Cumbernauld, Kilsyth, Motherwell, 'Northern Corridor' (Chryston), Shotts and Wishaw.

It's a bit unusual to see a council consultation like this during the 'purdah' pre-election period, especially as some of the potential hub locations are on land that isn't owned by the council! For example, one option for the Airdrie hub is the site of the current University Hospital Monklands. The hospital isn't due to move to its new site at Wester Moffat until the late 2020s. Most of the other locations are current schools, except for a few, such as Cumbernauld town centre, Wishaw Sports Centre and Ravenscraig (Motherwell). The latter will arguably have better active travel access from Craigneuk/Wishaw than from Motherwell itself.

Each area is covered in one of the videos on the consultation webpage (without subtitles, sadly). It may be easier to watch them by clicking the red link to open them in a new tab/window. There are also videos at the foot of the page explaining the thinking behind the project. Each area has a link to a survey to give your views. There's no obvious closing date for this one, but do get your views in soon!

1.3: GUS – GUSM74 Urban Sports Sculpture Park survey

First covered in Digest 81, Item 1.9, the GUSM74 skate park would redevelop the area under a flyover near West St underground station. The GUSM74 survey is still open for BMX riders, skaters, or their families, to have their say.

Section 2: Forthcoming Consultations

None this time.

Section 3: Consultation Feedback

3.1: Glasgow City Council – Hill Street Temporary Traffic Regulation Order

This Temporary TRO seems to be new and we have no record of any consultation prior to implementation. It's possibly to do with St Aloysius College, which is a private school at 45 Hill St on the block mentioned in the order, between Scott St and Dalhousie St (just north of Glasgow School of Art). It seems this single block will become two-way, while the rest of Hill St stays one-way.
The streets in Garnethill are narrow with parked motor vehicles adding to the lack of space for cycling, so do take care in the area.

Here are the details of the Order:

Glasgow-City-Council-Hill-Street-Temporary-Traffic-Regulation-Order-2021DownloadGlasgow City Council (Hill Street) (Temporary Traffic Regulation) Order 2021 - TTRO AdvertDownload

3.2: Glasgow City Council – St. Andrews Drive Sustainable Transport Route

This extension to the South West City Way was first announced in a Consultation Extra in November 2019. The official order for the route was in Digest 81, Item 1.1 and GoBike submitted this response:

GoBike St Andrews Drive STR response 270221Download

We had already submitted a very detailed letter in response to an earlier consultation:

GoBike SWCW extension letter 290120Download

Our detailed comments do not, sadly, form part of the TRO Consultation and GoBike is rarely involved in cycleway design. Here is the response of 20 April to our reluctant acceptance of the limited TRO:

"MESSAGE SENT ON BEHALF OF CHRISTINE FRANCIS, HEAD OF TECHNICAL SERVICES.
NEIGHBOURHOODS REGENERATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

Dear Ms Fort
THE GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL, (St. ANDREWS DRIVE) (SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT ROUTE) ORDER 20__

Thank you for your correspondence regarding the above named Traffic Regulation Order.
We note your letter of “No Objection” this will be considered and included within the final report which will inform the decision. Once a decision has been taken in regards to these proposals I shall write to you again and advise of the outcome.
We further note your points raised in your letter as these are not under the TRO process these will be replied to under separate cover.

Yours sincerely, etc"

We look forward to the promised response under "separate cover"!

3.3: Community Action Lanarkshire – Make Your Way, Key Links consultation

This project first came up in Digest 75, Item 1.3. The Key Links projects is about creating new active travel routes in Abington, Douglas, Leadhills and Wanlockhead in rural South Lanarkshire. Make Your Way had won funding for a feasibility study in summer 2020.

An update on the CAL website has feedback about the consultation (and a ringing endorsement from one of the local candidates).

3.4: Multiplex – Glasgow Uni newsletter April 2021

Multiplex have released their latest update about the Glasgow Uni campus redevelopment – April 2021 newsletter. It doesn't mention a change to the temporary traffic lights on University Avenue. GoBike member Iain had taken this up with the developers after several members found the green light phase wasn't long enough. That meant they couldn't cycle past the roadworks before oncoming traffic got a green light. The phase has now been lengthened – please let us know if you have any further issues with it.

The next Digest will be  after the Scottish Parliament election, when normal service may be resumed.