Bright sun and dark shadows.
As we move into summer holiday time (and Pride month) some new consultations are coming out. The biggest in this issue is the final section of Glasgow’s Avenues Plus project – Duke St and John Knox St. Also, another look at plans for Bishopbriggs town centre. Elsewhere it’s North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and Loch Lomond.
Sadly May ended with news of a serious collision on Fielden St, Glasgow with a car driver reportedly hitting a cyclist. Tragically, John Morton died in hospital from his injuries on 4 June. GoBike would like to offer sincere condolences to John’s family and friends.
Fielden Street leads north from the corner at London Road police station in the East End. It’s a 4-lane road going uphill with a very poor surface in places. It’s one of the main routes between the M8 and M74 motorways and has issues with drivers speeding and changing lanes without warning. As with the death of Emma Burke Newman in January, the collision that led to John’s death was on a section of road without any protection but close to new cycling infrastructure (the East City Way under construction on London Road).
Earlier in May, the Glasgow Times published an article about road deaths in Glasgow in 2023 passing 2022’s total. Sadly, the number has already risen further. It emphasises the need for protected cycle lanes that are starting to cover more areas of Glasgow and elsewhere. However, there is still a very long way to go.
Contents
(new consultations in bold)
1: Current Consultations
- Irvine housing developments – Revised draft plans
- North Ayrshire Local Development Plan 3
- Bishopbriggs Civic Space
- North Lanarkshire Council – Green and open space survey
- Duke Street & John Knox Street Avenues Plus project
- Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park Partnership Plan
- Devon Street Urban Park
2: Consultation Feedback
3: Proposed Traffic Regulation Orders
Section 1: Current Consultations
(in date order for responses)
1.1: Irvine housing developments – Revised draft plans
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 on width or design. Each development had an in-person consultation event in June.
Featured: Digest 120, 1.6.
Website links: Ayrshire Central Hospital revised draft plans and Montgomerie Park consultation revised draft plans.
Deadline: 16 June 2023.
1.2: North Ayrshire Local Development Plan 3
Council: North Ayrshire.
Subject: First consultation stage for the next Local Development Plan by North Ayrshire. It may be one of the first in Scotland under the new National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4 came into force in February 2023). As a result, it should have more emphasis on the environment, including active travel. Getting cycling routes/networks, developer obligations, etc. mentioned in the LDP makes them more likely to be delivered. Also, if developers proposals miss out or go against the LDP, these give people grounds to object and have plans altered or conditions added.
Website links: North Ayrshire LDP3 consultation website.
Deadline: June 28 2023.
1.3: Bishopbriggs Civic Space
Council: East Dunbartonshire.
Subject: Latest stage of consultation, now looking to finalise designs for phase 1 works. The ‘civic space’ is on Kirkintilloch Rd (A803) at the cross next to St Matthews Church and the Triangle shopping centre. The main focus is removing a mini-roundabout, service road and car parking to create a larger public space. Masterplan B is the preferred option EDC want to fine-tune. Visualisations for that option include a very short 2-way protected cycleway (~130m) on the western side of the A803. However, the wider masterplan shows a bi-directional cycleway continuing south of Bishopbriggs Cross (at Kenmure Ave/Springfield Rd). It’s not clear how to get in or out of the lane going southbound. It seems you may have to go on the carriageway in between the junctions so it probably wouldn’t work for an ‘unaccompanied 12-year-old’, as cited in guidance like Cycling by Design or LTN 1/20.
Website links: Bishopbriggs Civic Space storymap.
Deadline: June 30 2023.
1.4: North Lanarkshire Council – Green and open space survey
Council: North Lanarkshire.
Subject: Survey and audit data to feed into an Open Space Strategy and other policies. NLC avoid on-street protected cycle lanes, so anything affecting off-street paths could have a big impact on cycling in the county. Areas like the Seven Lochs Wetland Park have cross-border active travel routes (Hogganfield Loch to Drumpellier Country Park, Coatbridge). NL’s other country parks, Palacerigg (see above) and especially Strathclyde Park, are also havens for active travel. The latter has added and upgraded paths near Bellshill with more of NCN74 due to be re-routed through the park. The council ignored a GoBike suggestion for links between Strathclyde Park, Duchess Park, Ravenscraig and the existing Greenlink route (as part of redevelopment of Airbles Rd). There’s potential for similar links around some of North Lanarkshire’s dozen nature reserves. The consultation has a general survey and one about specific places that are important to visitors or residents.
Website links: Green and open space surveys.
Deadline: 10 July 2023.
1.5: Duke Street & John Knox Street Avenues Plus project
Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: Long-awaited plans to add a cycleway and other improvements on Duke St and John Knox St, east of the city centre. The Avenues Plus project was awarded Sustrans funding in July 2019. The Duke St Avenue is about 1km long between George St and Bellgrove St. It doesn’t include the busy area where pedestrian Cameron Eaglesham was recently killed by a lorry driver. However, the Tennent’s Wellpark brewery and Drygate mean both streets have HGVs and buses. John Knox St goes north from Duke St uphill to a busy junction with Castle St at Cathedral Square. The original 2019 visual showed 1-way lanes on Duke St at the High St junction. Instead, the latest consultation images have a choice between 2-way lanes either on the northern or southern side of the road. Public events take place today (15 June) along Duke St then at Dennistoun Library from 2pm – 6.30pm.
Website links: GCC Consultation page and consultant’s site (due to go live from 15 June).
Deadline: 13 July 2023.
1.6: Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park Partnership Plan
Organisation: Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park.
Area: The park ranges from Loch Eck and Loch Goil in the west to Loch Earn and Callander in the east. Also, from Killin and Crianlarich in the north to Balloch in the south (but it misses out Helensburgh and Gare Loch).
Subject: A wide-ranging five year plan for the park. It includes a section on ‘Low Carbon Travel for Everyone’. Cycle routes and active travel are mentioned briefly but most of the section is about buses. That may make sense, considering the size of the park, but it’s still a bit disappointing. There’s already a cycle route from Balloch up the west side of Loch Lomond (and there were plans for an active travel route to Inverarnan as part of A82 works). Active travel paths were extended along the River Goil in 2021 and there seems to be plenty of scope for more.
Website links: Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park Commonplace site.
Deadline: 19 July 2023.
1.7: Devon Street Urban Park
Organisation: Glasgow Urban Sports (GUS).
Area: Southside between Eglinton St and Pollokshaws Rd.
Subject: Formerly GUS M74, now revised and renamed… “The Devon Street Urban Park project is a proposal from Glasgow Urban Sports (GUS), a community led organisation, that aims to transform an unused area of land under the canopy of the M74 motorway, on the southside of Glasgow, to create a new public urban park and community leisure space.” While the project still involves building a skatepark it seems to have broadened out a bit to gain more community support. There are new partner organisations on board and a new survey to fill in.
Featured: Digest 92, Item 1.14.
Website links: Devon St survey, new GUS website.
Deadline: No obvious deadline.
Section 2: Consultation Feedback
2.1: City Network Delivery Plan – Approved
Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: The plan about how the City Network will be delivered has now been approved by the council. See maps and further info in previous issues and via links, below.
Featured: Phases 0 and 1 (Digest 134, 2.1), Phases 2 and 3 (135, 2.1) and Phases 4 and 5 (136, 2.1).
Website links: City Network roll-out approved and City Network – Delivery Plan report.
2.2: Accessible and Inclusive Design Forum
Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: Successor to the previous Active Travel Forum, the AIDF is a very different partnership meeting. It looks at accessibility issues with new infrastructure – especially issues for visually impaired people and with input from Glasgow Disability Alliance. GoBike and Freewheel North were the only cycling-related groups represented (plus a Sustrans rep) out of about 20 people.
There was quite a lot of venting at the council about previous and ongoing issues with engagement, infrastructure and approach to the group and how it was reported. Later, there were some constructive points about bus stop bypasses. However, most visually impaired members wanted them scrapped and there was some negativity about cycling. Also, there was bad news about Argyle St West lanes, which weave around rain gardens and loading bays. With rail tunnels as little as 20cm under the road surface, there’s only enough depth for rain gardens further out. It’s not clear if the West plans need so many, as SEPA’s Flood Maps suggest more flood risk around Central Station and Argyle St East. However, the council officer wouldn’t engage about changing or moving rain gardens (due to ‘funding linked to environmental performance’).
The AIDF isn’t an easy assignment for GoBike. It’s due to move to a new format, meeting every three months, so it’s one we’ll need to get to grips with.
Section 3: Proposed Traffic Regulation Orders
3.1: East Dunbartonshire TROs
Areas: Kirkintilloch.
Subject: A TRO about raised road tables on Union St, Kirkie – deadline: 14 July 2023.
A series of TROs about Canniesburn Toll were sent to GoBike just before this Digest was published but aren’t on EDC’s website yet. They say these will be published in local press next week so we’ll pick them up in the next Digest.
Website links: East Dunbartonshire TROs.
3.2: Glasgow City TROs and Traffic Calming
Subject: Parking TRO for Springhill Parkway/Springcroft Road, Baillieston (near Easterhouse train station) – ends 16 June.
Various school streets are being made permanent. Also, the Raeberry St/Mount St TROs (part of Connecting Woodside) have been made.
Website links: Glasgow City Proposed TROs and Glasgow City Proposed Traffic Calming Schemes.