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The Main Issues Promoting sustainable locations for development Transport 6.75 The
MIR proposes a city-region development vision and strategy founded upon sustainable development principles (Section 4). These principles reflect the vision, in essence, renewal, regeneration and reinforcement, of the existing urban communities of the city-region with locational thinking based upon sustainable public transport access and the promotion of active travel.
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following parts of this section relate to the West of Scotland Conurbation Public Transport Study, WSCPTS, (Background Report 13), a major analysis of public transport options and futures across the city-region. This study was commissioned by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT). This study is also seen as a key input to Project 24 of the current Scottish Government adopted Strategic Transport Projects Review.
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key piece of the strategic thinking is landuse and transport integration, Transit Oriented Development (TOD), wherein locational strategy links to public transport networks and maximises the potential for sustainable travel. 2 and 6: Issue 1 of the MIR rehearsed the road investment issues and their current programming. The shift in focus therefore for the MIR and the SDP is how to promote better public transport investment to support the preferred strategy.
key aim of the WSCPTS is to develop an integrated, fast, reliable, frequent and attractive public transport service across the city-region by 2025. As with the MIR, the strategy is TODbased. The following components are central to the integration of land-use and transport in the city-region (Figure 27):
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■ Light Mass Transit, including future tram / train shared running; and ■ City Centre and Cross-city travel and interchange. 6.80 The
GCVSDPA supports and incorporates as its sustainable transport solution for the SDP the strategy reflected in outcomes of the WSCPTS Figure 28. The solution is built around enhancing and developing City Centre core linkages by all public transport modes to the wider conurbation. By so doing, it also provides the necessary infrastructure for capitalising upon an HSR terminal location in central Glasgow, thus linking external, Issue 1, and internal connectivity Figure 27.
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■ fixed or heavy rail network (building on the existing network); ■ modernised Subway, bus services and multimodal interchanges with other public transport services, supported by integrated ticketing;
outcomes of the WSCPTS and their interaction with the priority development locations of the MIR are the subject of on-going land-use and transport modelling with SPT as a partner and Transport Scotland in peer review and joint working.
Issue 4 Promoting sustainable locations for development In order to support sustainable economic growth of the city-region economy within a coherent long-term sustainability strategy, the GCVSDPA needs to ensure that there is sufficient land capacity to meet need and demand in key areas such as housing, retail, transport and infrastructure. There are already generous land allocations in the pipeline to fulfil need and demand for new homes across all tenures, yet the recession has had an impact on their short-term deliverability. In terms of retail the GCVSDPA, whilst acknowledging the planning need to protect centres’ roles and functions in all communities, favours a focus and investment approach that promotes only those centres that will have strategic roles and functions. Braehead could seem an anomaly in terms of its commercial centre retail designation compared with other strategic level retail centres and perhaps warrants consideration of town centre status. Question 20 Should the GCVSDPA, despite generous allocations of land for future housing, consider release of additional land in less sustainable locations to accommodate the short-term impact of the current economic recession on the housing market?
Question 21 The GCVSDPA prefers an option to identify a limited number of strategic centres; yet there are other options - to focus solely on the City Centre or perhaps to adopt a wide-ranging network of centres, both of which have different implications for investment. Is the GCVSDPA’s approach the most sustainable option?
Question 23 Given the clear need to address waste in a future sustainable city-region vision, but given also the real data difficulties with this subject and its inherent complexity, do you support the GCVSDPA’s view that strategic planning for waste needs a national drive to address the evidence base of that planning?
Question 22 Braehead is not currently identified as a town centre but on the basis of the analysis there is a view that it should be designated as a town centre. Is this a valid view?
The real key to a sustainable future is a fundamental shift in the nature of the city-region’s transport infrastructure from personal transport to sustainable integrated mass-transit systems. Our competitors are considerably ahead of us in that respect with a resulting competitive gap. The GCVSDPA and partners understand the need for an action programme to address this issue and supports the coherent programme of the WSCPTS as the basis of transport investment.
Infrastructure is pivotal to a future sustainable city-region. An investment programme in water and drainage, the MGSDP, is in place to reinforce and modernise the capacity of the conurbation and will be supported. Waste infrastructure in the city-region is a difficult issue in planning terms until there is a more robust basis for defining an investment programme in facilities.
GLASGOW AND THE CLYDE VALLEY STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN MAIN ISSUES REPORT SEPTEMBER 2010
Question 24 Should the city-region focus on a step-change in public transport provision of the type set out in the WSCPTS within the plan period?
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