Glasgow unveils plans to transform Sighthill into ‘bike town’
June 20 2013
A major redevelopment of the 1960s estate is planned as part of efforts to bring the sporting event to the city, demolishing five tower blocks and replacing them with 830 homes, shops, a square and school.
Now McAveety has called for a cycling strategy to be devised for the new district, giving cyclist’s priority on its roads and creating a green network of paths and bridges to open new routes between the city centre and surrounding areas.
It follows a fact-finding visit to the Dutch town of Houten, which has banished vehicles to an outer ring-road and encouraged cycling by connecting residential areas to an expansive network of cycle paths.
McAveety said: “We need to raise our aspirations. In places like Houten people cycle and never see a car. Toddlers cycle, pensioners cycle, the environment's safe. The main form of transport is cycling.
"We will be spending substantial sums redeveloping Sighthill and even if just a fraction of the total goes on cycling-friendly provision it would transform our quality of life and sustainability."
7 Comments
#2 Posted by Nicky Chow on 20 Jun 2013 at 14:02 PM
If it's a 'bike town' why are there 2 cars + driveways and no bicycles in the image?
#3 Posted by Egbert on 20 Jun 2013 at 16:21 PM
Nicky - the image has been doing the rounds for a while and was featured in a couple of other news stories here on the overall Sighthill regeneration proposals - I suspect it's from an early iteration (pre bike town). If you want a chuckle, have a look at the Mediterranean blue skies and jolly street cafés that the other images show the future Sighthill enjoying - there's optimism and then there's total detachment from reality...
#4 Posted by Stuart on 20 Jun 2013 at 16:28 PM
"Glasgow City Council’s cycling tsar, Frank McAveety"
Oh how we laughed - the pieman!
Oh how we laughed - the pieman!
#5 Posted by DS on 20 Jun 2013 at 16:31 PM
Anything that discourages the car is only a good thing, but surely this is the wrong way to go about things.
Branding a new development of this size as a "bike town" is just inviting it to be stigmatised in the future. If in 10 years time people are not actively cycling around this development, there will be a negative reason as to why it hasen't worked, and so Sighthill is again stigmatised.
Why couldn't this bike strategy be city wide first of all, and properly address cycle lanes and giving pedestrians and cyclists more road priority within the city centre. What good is it providing a bike town with cycle links back to a city that is distinctly not bike friendly? Or is a "Bike Town" meant to be more like a theme park, where you come in and cycle around a bit and then leave......?
Branding a new development of this size as a "bike town" is just inviting it to be stigmatised in the future. If in 10 years time people are not actively cycling around this development, there will be a negative reason as to why it hasen't worked, and so Sighthill is again stigmatised.
Why couldn't this bike strategy be city wide first of all, and properly address cycle lanes and giving pedestrians and cyclists more road priority within the city centre. What good is it providing a bike town with cycle links back to a city that is distinctly not bike friendly? Or is a "Bike Town" meant to be more like a theme park, where you come in and cycle around a bit and then leave......?
#6 Posted by Sven on 24 Jun 2013 at 12:00 PM
Glasgow actually uses public transport more than any other city in the UK. It is also more European in having high density living (tenements) and not lots of detached and semi-detached housing. If you want to cycle from Sighthill where exactly do you leave it while shopping for example in the town centre? Do we want more street furniture clogging up the streets?
Yes the Dutch have cycle lanes (which are not on the road, but a line marked on pavements) but the country is high density with cities, towns and villages very close together, especially in the Randstad. Mopeds and the like are allowed to use the cycle lanes, which is not pleasant as one whizzes past you on the pavement.
Sighthill is next to the M8, M80 and A803, so the people living there are very unlikely to never see cars - sitting in your garden will constantly remind you of them with the road noise.
The area has been 'difficult to let' for some decades now, in fact that is why the Council were desperate to dump refugees and asylum seekers there, so where is the demand for these houses?
Yes the Dutch have cycle lanes (which are not on the road, but a line marked on pavements) but the country is high density with cities, towns and villages very close together, especially in the Randstad. Mopeds and the like are allowed to use the cycle lanes, which is not pleasant as one whizzes past you on the pavement.
Sighthill is next to the M8, M80 and A803, so the people living there are very unlikely to never see cars - sitting in your garden will constantly remind you of them with the road noise.
The area has been 'difficult to let' for some decades now, in fact that is why the Council were desperate to dump refugees and asylum seekers there, so where is the demand for these houses?
#7 Posted by Jamie on 18 Feb 2014 at 21:01 PM
If you have been living in Sighthill for a longtime and still do, do you think It would be easy for you to get one of these new homes once they are built?
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This project appears to be an auspicious start in such a car fixated city as Glasgow.