Appeal to bring train service to Castlemilk

APLEA has been made to bring a rail service to Castlemilk, with residents currently cut-off from public transport and lacking in public conveniences such as a supermarket. Community councillor Maureen Cope said a rail service should be extended to the south Glasgow area, after hearing from a council manager about Glasgow’s transport strategy at a meeting on Tuesday.

Cope, of Castlemilk Community Council, said: “Do you go out to see different areas? We have issues here with transport. You have to travel to even get to a supermarket.

“Are there any opportunities to extend the train lines out to us and Carmunnock? Carmunnock is another area that gets a bus part of the day.”

She added: “I know all these policies and strategies and everything are getting looked at. You need to come out and see what people have to deal with daily to even get to their place of work.”

Responding to her concerns, Deborah Paton, the council’s group manager, connectivity plan, said: “The issues you raised about Castlemilk did come through really strongly in our public conversation last year and we had a number of online discussions sessions.”

Paton said the proposed Metro scheme – being led by Transport Scotland – could run to underserved neighbourhoods like Castlemilk.

She said: “The council is a strong promoter of the scheme. They have been looking at areas that are underserved by public transport in the city and the region and I would say Castlemilk is probably definitely on that list.”

Responding to Cope’s concerns about lack of facilities in Castlemilk, Paton said it was a “really good point”.

Speaking at this week’s South Sector Community Planning Partnership meeting,

Paton referred to the council’s bid to create liveable neighbourhoods where people can meet their daily needs in their own locality. She said: “We have to make sure we are linking with other sectors of society to make that happen because some people have said we don’t want to be shoehorned or steered into being limited to our local area if we are not getting the types of services and facilities that we need.” She said there is a need to work with planning colleagues to make sure “we are getting facilities”.

She said: “We need to do an audit of the types of facilities and services we would need in a liveable neighbourhood context and map out how to achieve that.” Paton presented details of the council’s Glasgow Transport Strategy – Consultation on Draft Policy Framework to the meeting. Consultation is currently taking place on the strategy, which would run until 2030.