We have reduction in quantity but a considerable increase in interest in the consultations in this issue of our digest. Read on: Continue reading “Consultations Digest Issue 2, 06 February 2018 – Byres Road to the Barras to Kirkintilloch”
Almost February – time for a ride round the parks of Glasgow’s East End with GoBike!
Another chance to see bits of the city you’ve never seen before! See our Facebook event
Sunday 4 February – East End Parks
We have previously had park rides in the north, south and west of the city, so now it is the turn of the east. As well as the big parks of Glasgow Green, Tollcross, Hogganfield and Alexandra Parks, we shall visit a number of smaller parks and open spaces, and a few other points of interest. The ride will be mostly on quiet roads and asphalt paths, except at Cardowan Moss (see image above) where we will be using well made unpaved paths. An 18 mile ride ending up in the City Centre in time for lunch.
Meet 10am Bell’s Bridge, Congress Road, Glasgow.
Rated: 
Continue reading “Almost February – time for a ride round the parks of Glasgow’s East End with GoBike!”
GoBike Consultations Digest, Issue 1, 23 January 2018 – Scotland wide!
Welcome to the first issue of our Consultations Digest, a regular post, updating you on consultations in these three areas:
- Consultations to which GoBike has responded.
- Upcoming consultations, for which we welcome your comments as to how we should respond, but we will also include here consultations for which you, as an individual, are asked to respond.
- Feedback on submitted consultations.
So we will be giving you far more information than we have in the past and we hope that this will encourage you, as GoBike members, to not only give us your views as to how we should respond but also to put your views directly to the organisation that has issued the consultation. Continue reading “GoBike Consultations Digest, Issue 1, 23 January 2018 – Scotland wide!”
Consultations: new and forthcoming in Glasgow, with even more speed cushions proposed for Santa’s sack
Here’s a picture of the brand new Broomhill School and the City Council propose to make the road going up to the right on the picture one-way. But have they considered active travel and all the work other bits of the council do to encourage children to cycle to school? We fear they haven’t. So our letter to the council, GoBike Consultations Broomhill One Way 21 Dec 2017 about this plan, broomhill one way tro plan TRO201701501 confirms that we are happy with their proposal, provided that they maintain two-way cycling! Let’s hope that we are lucky with this one. Continue reading “Consultations: new and forthcoming in Glasgow, with even more speed cushions proposed for Santa’s sack”
Swinton Avenue, Baillieston: proposed speed cushions will leave cyclists in the gutter
Glasgow City Council propose, in a recent e-mail headed “Swinton Avenue Traffic Calming Scheme”: “to consider the introduction of the above named Traffic Calming Scheme and I wish to establish the views of your organisation.
Background to the proposed Scheme
The scheme is aimed at improving road safety by reducing vehicle speeds and discouraging rat-running.
Roads affected by the proposed Scheme
The list of roads affected by these proposals are:-
Swinton Avenue
Details of the proposed Scheme
The proposed Scheme (as depicted on the attached plan) will comprise of:-
- 4 sets of 1.9m x 1.9m 75mm high speed cushions.”
Their drawing: Swinton Avenue Traffic Calming Propsal shows only 0.5m at the outer side of each set of speed cushion, ie one would have to cycle right in the gutter, over the cushion or in the 0.7m gap between the 2 cushions.
There appears to have been no consideration of active travel and we have proposed options of one-way chicanes with cycle bypasses or for the road to be stopped up allowing only cycle through traffic, and we have copied our letter, GoBike Consultations Swinton Avenue Traffic Calming 13 Dec 2017 to the 3 Councillors for the Ward, ie Ward 20, Baillieston. We have also mentioned the potential impact of Mark Ruskell’s 20mph bill – if you haven’t written to your constituency and list MSPs to ask them to support this, please do so!
Comments on the Swinton Avenue proposal are required by this Friday, 15 December – sorry for the short notice – but if you wish to put your comments in please do so to: LandServices.Mailroom@glasgow.gov.uk
East Renfrewshire: Clarkston – Stamperland – Busby Active Travel Network Delivery Plan
The message below has been sent on to us; it’s just for information at the moment, the start of the process in East Renfrewshire and there will be more to come:
From: “Shelton, John” <John.Shelton@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk>
Date: 7 Dec 2017 15:15
Subject: Clarkston – Stamperland – Busby Active Travel Network Delivery Plan
To:
Cc:
Dear Stakeholder,
You may recall a public consultation held in August to assist with development of a walking and cycling plan for Clarkston, Stamperland and Busby. I have the pleasure to share the final draft of the delivery plan (along with supporting appendices). This can be accessed via the East Renfrewshire Council Clarkston Town Centre page and will be publicised this weekend to the Clarkston Your Town Facebook page.
The Active Travel Network Delivery Plan was developed by East Renfrewshire Council and AECOM in response to a series of workshops held last year with residents and businesses as part of the Council’s Clarkston: Your Town initiative. The plan highlights local priorities to improve walking and cycling provision, as well as major projects to improve accessibility in key areas.
As well as outlining short and long term actions that may be considered so that walking and cycling is the natural choices for everyday journeys, the plan contributes to an ongoing conversation about the type of place Clarkston aspires to be.
Over the next few months East Renfrewshire Council will work with partners to develop detailed designs for some of the proposals identified within the plan, specifically improving local routes and enhancements to the Netherlee pavilion public realm. Furthermore, East Renfrewshire Council will look to establish a framework through which local people can help shape future plans supported by an ongoing programme of data gathering.
A pilot scheme in Clarkston to create more public space, with the introduction of ‘parklets’ and traffic reduced to a single lane along Busby Rd, is planned for Spring 2018 as part of ongoing Clarkston town centre improvement works. This will provide important insight into possible future options for Clarkston town centre.
If you have any questions regarding the plan please do not hesitate to get in touch. Also, please feel free to circulate this to anyone else you think may be interested in proposals.
Thank you for your time.
Kind regards
John Shelton
Green Network Project Officer
0141 577 3142 – Tel
07393 752 500 – Mob
East Renfrewshire: Your Council, Your Future
Yoker to Knightswood, route to BMX park, part 2, Shared Footway section proposals.
You may remember that last month we responded quite positively to the proposals for the southern part of this scheme? That was the segregated cycleway sections; we had reservations but the council staff responded promptly and we are reasonably happy with that stage.
It is not the same at all with the second phase, which is all shared footway. There appear to be contradictions between the drawings that are on the website (and reproduced here) and the paper drawings we were sent by post. Just about everything is proposed to be at the Absolute Minimum dimension given in Cycling by Design – this document includes a Desirable Minimum, an Absolute Minimum and even gives reductions on the latter, which helps explain why some of the cycling facilities in Glasgow are as bad as they are. Consultation on this part of the scheme closes this Friday, 08 December, so, if you can, please do get your views in over the next 2 days.
Given the disappointment in the scheme I have copied the 4 Councillors for the Ward, it’s Ward 13, into the letter, so that they get our concern first hand. Two of these Councillors toured the ward on Friday with us.
The Council documents are here: YokerToKnightswood-Redetermination-220x85mm-RTO redetermination Statement of Reasons redetermination information Report 32518_TRO_01-Lincoln Ave 32518_TRO_01-Dyke Road 32518_TRO_01-Archerhill road
The GoBike response, objecting to the proposals is here: GoBike Yoker to Knightwood Redetermination 061217
Please do e-mail the Council if you have views on this scheme.
Councillor tour 11, the SNP two cycle round Ward 13, Scotstounhill / Garscadden, Friday 01 December
The 2 SNP councillors for Scotstounhill /Garscadden, Michael Cullen and Chris Cunningham (MSP Roseanna Cunningham’s brother) toured Ward 13 with GoBike committee member, Alasdair Macdonald and member, Neil Lovelock, on Friday 01 December. They are all pictured above, in discussion with a local resident on the canalside.
Cllr Cullen posted to his Facebook page straight after the event, and has issued these tweets:
https://twitter.com/MichaelSNP13/status/936606704992772096
https://twitter.com/MichaelSNP13/status/936627870297976832
https://twitter.com/MichaelSNP13/status/936627870297976832
Cllr Cunningham tweeted – https://twitter.com/dunglasschris/status/936604706272612352
GoBike ride leader, Andy Preece, provided these points along his planned route, which the councillors noted on their tour: Councillor Ward Tour – Scotstoun, details
Neil has responded to the councillors on these issues:
Route cycled
Andy Preece provided this route: Councillor Ward Tour – Scotstoun map but the actual route cycled is here: http://www.mapmyride.com/
Space for Cycling guide
See this PDF: space_for_cycling_guide_for_decision_makers of the document that Neil handed across a copy on Friday.
Cycle path access points upgrade
See below for a few before and after photos of some of the improvements made to the access points back in Feb 2015.
Dock St planning approval
This is via West Dunbartonshire Council. Original application was submitted in 2012 and a revised version approved in 2016. Latest ref no is DC15/251 http://www.west-dunbarton.gov.
Info on the two original applications is here https://dumbartonroad.
nextbike membership discount
Details of how to get the 50% discount are here:
Queen Margaret Drive and Battlefield: 2 very quick on-line initial consultations from Glasgow City Council – Please respond
Further to the drop-in sessions held recently for Queen Margaret Drive and Battlefield junction improvements, Glasgow City Council have put out an initial on-line consultation for each:
This is early days for each consultation and the questions don’t ask you to choose a design option but do please answer the basic questions to voice your support for change.
Note that for Battlefiedl there is no question about cycling! So please add your views in the walking box. The closing dates are 15 December for QMD and 22 December for Battlefield – but best to do them both now before you forget!
Better buses in Scotland: call for help from FoE and Get Glasgow Moving
Please help our friends in Friends of the Earth and Get Glasgow Moving to get better bus services in Scotland; a better bus service means fewer people feel they need to get cars, so more room for bikes on the road and less pollution. PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO ADD YOUR SUPPORT. It’s quick and easy to do. The information that follows is from Friends of the Earth:
Scotland’s bus sector is in crisis.
In the last decade, bus companies have cut routes by a fifth and increased fares by a huge 50%. This dramatic deterioration is preventing people accessing basic services like hospitals and job centres, causing social isolation and inequality. It is also increasing the dominance of cars, exacerbating toxic air pollution and climate emissions.
Apart from Lothian Buses and a few other exceptions, most of Scotland’s buses are privately run, and all too often profit is put before people. Under public ownership and well-designed franchise models, profits from busy bus routes can be reinvested back into expanding the public transport network, improving reliability and reducing fares.
The Government wants your views about whether to shift the balance of power away from private companies and towards public bodies.
Take your chance to demand Local Transport Authorities are granted the powers necessary to run their own bus companies, or failing this, to operate well regulated franchises.
It’s time for a decent, fully-integrated, accessible and affordable public transport network for everyone in Scotland. Take action today.
This will be a response to the official consultation on improving local bus services and is supported by Friends of the Earth Scotland, Get Glasgow Moving, Unison, and Unite Community. You can read the full consultation document here.