Glasgow reveals plans for £400m share of City Deal

The work, which will result in £400 million being spent in Glasgow, will include a new bridge, cycle routes, improved roads and pavements and the creation of avenues of trees.

The City Deal for Glasgow and the surrounding areas, the biggest of its kind in the UK, was signed last year after the UK and Scottish governments each agreed to invest £500 million in grant funding, with the local authorities borrowing a further £130m.

The deal is expected to generate 15,000 construction jobs during the construction period and 28,000 permanent additional jobs once construction is complete; and will unlock £3.3bn of private sector investment.

Almost half the cash will go on six projects in the city and the local authority has now told theEvening Times where the money will be spent.

More than £115m will go to the Merchant City which the council says is the UK’s second most important centre for both shopping and finance.

The cash will be spent on public realm work at Argyle Street, Cathedral Street, Central Station, King Street, North Hanover Street, Sauchiehall Street and West Nile Street.

Work will include resurfacing streets and pavements, the creation of avenues of trees, segregated cycle lanes and reductions in traffic.

Almost £114m will be spent on Clyde Waterfront and the West End.

A report to councillors says: “This area has fantastic assets such as the New South Glasgow Hospitals Campus, Glasgow University, Pacific Quay and the West End itself but has suffered from the decline in industry and would benefit from better travel connections.

“The key objectives for this project are the unlocking of development potential of vacant and derelict sites for employment and housing, to stimulate growth in the life science and higher education sectors and maximise the benefits of existing high value industries and spread the benefits of City Deal investment to tackle multiple deprivation particularly in Govan.”

The project will result in a new bridge connecting Govan at Water Row and Partick, a new pedestrian cycle route between the new hospital campus, Govan, Pacific Quay and the city centre.

There will be a new south bank pedestrian route between Cessnock Subway and Pacific Quay, a new north bank cycle and pedestrian route connecting Glasgow University and the West End with Govan, Glasgow Harbour, the SECC, the Patrick-Govan bridge and the city centre and public realm improvements at Govan Cross, Byres Road, Church Street and University Avenue.

Almost £84m will be spent at Canal which is regarded as a gateway to the north of Glasgow.

The report says the area offers great potential to capitalise on its assets include knowledge-based industries on the north side of the city centre, the planned transformation of Sighthill, a growing cluster of cultural industries, new leisure and recreation facilities and a number of vacant development sites.

It adds: “The area does face significant infrastructure challenges, particularly in terms of poor connections to the city centre and neighbouring communities.”

City Deal cash will deliver improved access to the cultural and creative hub at Spiers Lock and Port Dundas, better access to Cowlairs, the remediation of land and the creation of services and circulation roads at Sighthill and will help fund the building of a new pedestrian and traffic bridge at Sighthill.

Planners have earmarked £27m for the Collegelands, Calton, Barras area which they say suffer from a poor environment and multiple deprivation.

The report says: “City Deal funding objectives for this project include the unlocking of the area’s development potential.”

Cash will be spent improving access to High Street station, upgrading the streets linking Gallowgate and Duke Street, preparing for further developments at Collegelands to include a hotel, more offices and leisure facilities.

Land at the former meat market/abbatoir site at Bellgrove will be cleaned to create an attractive development site close to the city centre.

Almost £1.7m will be made available to support high growth companies in the technology, design and manufacturing and creative sectors which employ between five and 20 staff.

The Tontine Building at Glasgow Cross will host high quality and flexible workspaces for these firms with a focus on those sectors which link with Strathclyde University to maximise the cross-fertilisation between growing companies in the city and the major multi-nationals and research programmes situated close by.

Around £46m will be spent to improve problems with the city’s drainage which were identified as a result of the floods of 2002.

A total of 14 schemes will be carried out including modifying the Forth and Clyde Canal to allow it to provide drainage for key regeneration sites.

Work will also be carried out in Hamiltonhill, Port Dundas, Cowlairs, Drumchapel, Springburn, Knightswood, Croftoot, King’s Park, Garrowhill, Balklieston, Cardonald, Darnley Mains and at Aikenhead Road/Overwood Drive.