Consultation Digest (Local) Issue 163, 25 July 2024

¡Vive le vélo! Paris is in the spotlight for sport but maybe also the rapid transformation of the cities’ streets under mayor Anne Hidalgo. Glasgow sees some progress of its own – the South City Way officially open to Trongate and Byres Rd phase 1 nearing completion. The city council’s survey on behaviour campaigns closes …

Continue reading "Consultation Digest (Local) Issue 163, 25 July 2024"

¡Vive le vélo!

Paris is in the spotlight for sport but maybe also the rapid transformation of the cities’ streets under mayor Anne Hidalgo. Glasgow sees some progress of its own – the South City Way officially open to Trongate and Byres Rd phase 1 nearing completion. The city council’s survey on behaviour campaigns closes soon.

Renfrewshire have their own milestone with the upgraded route from Erskine to Glasgow Airport. Will SPT’s Regional Active Travel Strategy bring big changes for cycling in towns like Motherwell, pictured (see 2.1)? Elsewhere, there are consultations relating to Local Development Plans in East Ayrshire; both North and South Lanarkshire; and West Dunbartonshire. Also, a few Traffic Orders…

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

1.1: Sustainable Transport Behaviour Change Campaigns 23/24

Council: Glasgow City.
Subject: Survey to help the evaluate two campaigns: ‘Let’s Look Out for Each Other’ and ‘Don’t be a Bus Blocker’. The former is similar to previous ‘share with care’ campaigns in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic (although it comes after Highway Code changes in 2022). The video shows idealised, polite reactions on road/lane/pavement (including what appears to be the South West City Way extension on St Andrews Drive). The latter is a poster/bus ad campaign specifically about cars/vans parking at bus stops. While these might not win any awards they do address issues with road use and car parking that don’t get much attention. So, it may be worth supporting the principle behind the campaigns even if we have criticisms of the actual ads themselves.
Website links: Sustainable Transport Behaviour Change Campaigns survey.
Deadline: 28 July 2024.

1.2: Loudoun Castle and Estate Draft Supplementary Guidance

Council: East Ayrshire.
Subject: The estate around the derelict Loudoun Castle, between Galston and Newmilns (by the A71). The main focus is development on the estate but the guidance does mention active travel (once!): “Proposals should utilise and expand on existing public transport and active travel networks…” The plans are a wider part of EAC’s Local Development Plan 2. A message from EAC says there’s an online survey (but doesn’t seem to provide a link). You can email them at localdevelopmentplans@east-ayrshire.gov.uk.
Website links: Loudoun Castle and Estate Draft Supplementary Guidance (PDF).
Deadline: 16 August 2024.

1.3: North Lanarkshire Local Development Plan 2 – Topic Paper Consultation (Batch 3)

Council: North Lanarkshire.
Subject: Supplementary guidance topic papers for NL LDP2. Batch 3 consultation includes:
– Policy 3 Biodiversity, Policy 4 Natural Places & Policy 20 Blue and Green Infrastructure.
– Policy 22 Flood Risk and Water Management.
– Policy 30 Tourism.
The papers quote sources of evidence (national guidance/bodies) and summarise the current situation in North Lanarkshire for various headings. They then decide if these topics will have any “locally specific policy” or be dealt with according to National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4). Spoiler alert – only tourism might get local guidance in LDP2. There’s an online survey to fill in (which wants a name and contact). Batch 4 is due to include topic papers on Sustainable Transport; Local Living and 20 Minute Neighbourhoods; and Infrastructure First.
Featured: Digest 158, 1.6 (Batch 1 – we seem to have missed Batch 2, apologies).
Website links: NL LDP2 Topic Papers Consultation webpage and Topic Paper Consultation – Batch 3 survey.
Deadline: 29 August 2024.

1.4: SPT Draft Regional Active Travel Strategy

Organisation: Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT).
Subject: A chance to have your say about a proposed network of walking/cycling routes for towns and villages across the Strathclyde region. The gist is main ‘spoke’/corridor routes towards Glasgow, a few radial routes and a triangle of links in Ayrshire. These are shown in the loosely labelled Connecting Places map and other numbered AT network maps (which can be hard to follow). SPT seem to prioritise cross-boundary routes, with varying results. For example, the existing route from Uddingston to Viewpark (SPT number it as 50_10) – a 1km upgrade where NCN 74 & 75 meet on North/South Lanarkshire boundary – is a ‘top’ priority. Meanwhile, a niche cross-region route from Lanark to Livingstone (CRR_12 – South Lanarkshire/West Lothian) is ‘high’ priority at 32km! However, a 5km route from East Kilbride to Hamilton, South Lanarkshire (37_10) – currently 60mph roads with no safe cycle route between Scotland’s 6th and 8th largest settlements – is only ‘medium’ priority!? The quality of cycle track described is an improvement on some of the plans SPT have funded in the past (most notably the redesign of Pollok Roundabout). However, the strategy has no timescales or budgets and SPT lost all their capital funding for this year. Despite that setback, they are influential in the regional Glasgow Bus Partnership and on ‘bus vs cycle’ routes (via Glasgow’s Spatial Delivery Framework).
Featured: Consultation Extra (20-10-23).
Website links: Regional Active Travel Strategy webpage, Regional AT Strategy storymap (including interactive Priority map), draft Regional ATS document (PDF) and Regional ATS online survey.
Deadline: 1 September 2024.

1.5: Tell Us About Your Place (West Dunbartonshire)

Council: West Dunbartonshire.
Subject: A survey based on the Place Standard tool to ‘score’ areas of the county. WDC say: “results of the survey will inform a number of the councils services and strategies, including: the Local Development Plan, Locality Plans, Open Space Strategy, and Play Sufficiency Assessment.”
Events – In Person drop-in (with presentation at 4.30pm):
– Concord Centre (Dumbarton), 25 July 2024, 3pm – 7pm
– Alexandria Community Centre, 28 August 2024, 3pm – 7pm
– Dalmuir Community Centre, 11 September 2024, 3pm – 7pm.
Virtual Drop-in events: 28 August, 10am – 11:30am and 3 September, 6:30pm – 8pm.
Website links: Tell Us About Your Place webpage (including survey link).
Deadline: 30 September 2024.

1.6: South Lanarkshire – Local Development Plan 3 (LDP3)

Council: South Lanarkshire.
Subject: Plan to “set out how our places will look in the future including where new homes and workplaces could be built and the areas that will be protected. There will be a strong emphasis on improving the quality of places as well as addressing the challenges of climate change and the protection and enhancement of biodiversity.”
Website links: South Lanarkshire View article and LDP3 webpage (including survey link).
Deadline: 30 September 2024.

Section 2: Consultation Feedback

2.1: Motherwell town centre – paths and crossings improvements

Council: North Lanarkshire.
Subject: West Hamilton Street (A721), Motherwell. A busy street with shopping centre/loading bays on one side and Lidl/housing on the other. Pavements vary from wide to narrow to non-existent. Works are due to start this week to improve pedestrian crossings, pavements and bus stop laybys. Apparently “widening sections of the existing paths to enable shared use for walking, wheeling and cycling and widening the pedestrian and cyclist crossings, including the roundabout island at Hamilton Road.” There’s no further detail but it may be similar to other works by NLC further north on Muir St and elsewhere in Wishaw and Airdrie. The space could be used for cycletracks but NLC all but ruled out on-road infrastructure in their Active Travel Strategy (apparently this comes from the top).

Section 3: Proposed Traffic Regulation Orders

3.1: East Dunbartonshire TROs

Subject: On 1 July, EDC ‘made’ (implemented) a TRO which increased charges at car parks in Bearsden, Bishopbriggs, Kirkintilloch and Milngavie.
Website links: East Dunbartonshire TROs.

3.2: North Lanarkshire TROs

Subject: TRO to add a Puffin crossing on Drumcavel Road (A752) at the eastern edge of Muirhead. The reason for the location seems to be the existing bus stop on the north side of the road and new housing being built south of Drumcavel Rd.
Website links: Drumcavel Road, Muirhead – Puffin Crossing webpage and Drumcavel Road TRO plan (PDF).