Long road ahead for City Deal SLC start business case for Stewartfield Way proposals
NICOLA FINDLAY
South Lanarkshire Council have begun work on the business case for the controversial part-dualling of Stewartfield Way.
Plans to dual the entire road were scrapped with the local authority doing a U-turn following a heated public consultation into the £62million City Deal proposals.
The preferred option following the consultation is only dualling the section between the James Hamilton Heritage Loch junction (at the eastern end of Stewartfield Crescent) eastwards to the Kingsgate/ roundabout.
Proposals to introduce a new roundabout at the Playsport access and to widen the existing dual carriageway between Kingsgate and Mavor Avenue roundabout are being retained.
But an integral part of the upgrade is active travel plans, which includes public transport.
And with a campaign launched following the announcement by First Glasgow that they have scrapped the 31 service through East Kilbride there are now calls from local Green campaigners for the council to step in and look into running a service that better serves East Kilbride – and to bin any Stewartfield Way dualling completely.
The 31 was the only bus service which served Stewartfield.
East Kilbride Green campaigner Kirsten Robb said: “Councils can now run their own bus services to serve the needs of local people better.
“Will South Lanarkshire Councillors support Green calls for a study to see how this could be run and serve East Kilbride with better transport?
“On top of tackling climate change and
EK’s illegal air pollution, the post-COVID world will see more people working from home, virtual meetings and staggered work times.
“Councillors must now consign the Stewartfield Way dualling project to the history books where it came from and that money put into sustainable transport and other investment needed to build our communities back better in the post-COVID world.”
SLC have said they will “continue to liaise with SPT, Transport Scotland, and bus operators” and said they were unable at this stage to quantify the impact of the loss of the First 31 service and the COVID-19 pandemic on the Stewartfield Way project.
But they have not committed to Green proposals for a study into how public transport could be better run.
Gordon Mackay, Head of Roads and Transportation at South Lanarkshire Council, said: “Work on the Strategic Business Case has commenced and as before active travel and public transport will form an important element of the project as it develops.
“And the council will, of course, be taking the pandemic into account in developing the business case.
“COVID-19 has affected every part of our society and economy, and we know that bus companies are no exception to this.
“Although financial support has been provided by the Scottish Government, we are aware that there have been changes to a number of services due to significant and developing commercial pressures.
“Just as it would be premature to reach a view on what impact COVID-19 has had on the project, the same can be said for any review of bus services or the wider industry.”
No date has yet been set for the completion of the Stewartfield Way business case.