November 20 2023

The UK government has awarded close to £15m of Levelling Up funds towards Drumchapel town centre.

As part of a broader package of funding to address 'overlooked and undervalued' corners of the country the cash will be utilised to spruce up the High Street, including improved community facilities, housing and active travel routes. The opportunity will also be taken to address localised flooding problems and introduce new green space.

Councillor Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, commented: “The success of this bid is testament to the hard work of officers, local members and the whole community – and their ambition for Drumchapel. I’m confident the project will secure real economic, environmental and social benefits by delivering enhanced community facilities, better connected local shops and services, and enable new housing and green space.”

Among the 55 projects to secure £1bn in funding is a Dumfries and Galloway transport bid which netted £13.7m. A further £22.8m has been set aside for the Three Rivers Active Tourism Project in Dumfries and Galloway and £14.6m has been allocated to South Lanarkshire for remediation and development of the Shawfield National Business District.

One of the larger sums to be awarded is £37.4m earmarked for North and South Ayrshire to deliver commercial and low-carbon infrastructure.  

Main image provides an indicative look at how Drumchapel town centre could evolve.

2 Comments

#1 Posted by mitchero on 21 Nov 2023 at 08:31 AM

getting rid of that roundabout and reconfiguring the road certainly gets my vote!
will help to slow traffic and make active travel safer and more accessible

#2 Posted by Roddy_ on 22 Nov 2023 at 11:35 AM

I'm not sure whose vision of Drumchapel is conveyed by the images but some urban design 101 wouldn't go amiss to address the following:

·Island housing that shrinks away from the street edge. Sitting in a park whose paths seem to lead to the associated parking
·A public plaza with no spatial enclosure ( And put the main public space on the edge of the town centre rather than the centre.
·A vast town centre surface car park mitigated by solar panels

It is just an image, but it says so much about the minimal thought that goes into these things. £15m is not a very much when dealing with the considerable issues of the town centre. Let's hope that they don't spread the cash too thinly.

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