Concerns Glasgow road money will be spent on ‘affluent’ areas

Officials at Glasgow City Council have pulled together lists of how £1m per ward can be spent on neighbourhood improvements and have also been presenting a roads investment strategy for 2022/23 to councillors.

At a Victoria Park area partnership meeting, Elizabeth Brown, from Whiteinch Community Council, said complaints “tend to come from the more articulate areas in the ward”.

“We’re really quite concerned, we’ve looked at the list, is it a case of you’re spending the money throughout the ward depending on where you’ve got complaints?

“There are areas in Whiteinch where the surfaces are in exceedingly poor condition. How are you going to repair them, is it the patching that never lasts?”

Members, including the three councillors for the Victoria Park ward, will go on a walkaround with council officials before deciding how the money will be spent.

Ideas for the £1m neighbourhood infrastructure investment in Victoria Park, which was part of the council’s budget for this financial year, include upgrading carriageways and footways.

It also includes street lighting suggestions and plans to provide CCTV to target fly-tippers.

The roads investment strategy sets aside £37,500 for work on Dumbarton Road between Apsley Street and Exeter Drive, £12,500 for Anniesland Road at the junction with Kingsway and £12,500 to be used on Dumbarton Road from Victoria Park Drive South to Primrose Court.

Cllr Feargal Dalton said: “The point that Elizabeth has made is an issue with this sort of money that you give out to the community.

“The community that has the capacity to ask for the money tends to be a section of the community that is not in most need, so those that lack the capacity to avail of money that’s been handed out, they are too busy trying to pay bills and surviving.

“If you look at the list of streets that have been put forward, it is sort of a list of the most affluent streets in our ward, because people in these areas, no disrespect to them, they have the app, they have email accounts and the rest of it.

“Whereas the people who are trying to feed their weans and pay their electricity bill, a pothole on their street is the least of their concerns, but that’s where we come in.”

Cllr Dalton supported work on a double mini roundabout on Westland Drive at the corner of Victoria Park. He said: “There were improvements made to it, there is an island, but if you go up there when it’s chucking out time at the local school, you’ve got about 50 kids on an island. It’s just not safe.”

“Let’s rebuild that roundabout with the cyclist and pedestrian in mind and fit the car in around it. It’s been a bugbear of mine for a while.”

In response to the concerns raised by the councillors and community representatives, a council official said they were “listening to the community councils”.

“This list is not exhaustive, the community can provide other options and if that fits in better with the needs of that community then we will certainly have a look at that as well.”

Another official said: “That list is a bit of a menu of choices and options available based on the information coming from community councils. We are taking stuff that is coming from the app, from phone calls, from elected member inquiries. We’ve not really plucked it out of the air.”

The full list of works planned using the £1m fund can be viewed HERE.