Glasgow City Council has been working on a new Glasgow City Centre Transport Plan. Its overall aim is to ensure that transport plays a key and proactive part in Glasgow City Centre being an attractive and sustainable place for residents, visitors and businesses. The Plan sits under the overarching Glasgow Transport Strategy for the city and ties in with a number of other key policy documents including the Connectivity Commission, City Centre Strategic Development Framework, and Glasgow’s Climate Plan.
Councillor Angus Millar (Glasgow’s Convener for Climate, the Glasgow Green Deal, Transport and City Centre Recovery) and Steven Gray (GCC’s Group Manager for City Centre Transformation Plan) joined us at TRANSPORT Smart Class, Scotland 2022 to tell us more!
Their joint keynote covered the content of the Plan, methods used – including consultation – and highlighted some of the key projects that are to be delivered, including the creation of a “City Centre People First Zone”. This will be a high quality public realm area where people are able to easily and safely walk and wheel, “where people feel they have priority and vehicles are the guests in an environment with less noise and cleaner air”.
Summary of presentation highlights:
- Journey to the CCTP – Covid-19 impact on Glasgow City Centre; Public Conversation on Glasgow’s Transport Future, 2020; New Glasgow Transport Strategy: Policy Framework, 2022; Glasgow City Centre Recovery Plan 22-24; City Centre Transport Plan, 2022;
- Journey to the CCTP – Aligning with the National Transport Strategy and overarching Glasgow Transport Strategy (GTS); additional policy alignments with the Climate Change Action Plan, Glasgow City’s Development Plan (LDP), Strategic Development Framework (SDF), City Centre Living Strategy 2035, Glasgow City Centre Recovery Plan 22-24 and District Regeneration Frameworks (DRF’s);
- Replacing the City Centre Transport Strategy 2014-2024 with the CCTP;
- Focus of the strategy reflects four core strategic planning objectives that support: Successful & Vibrant City Centre, Carbon Neutral City, Liveable People-focused Urban Environments and Accessible & Inclusive Place-making;
- Vision and Strategy – Reinforcing the city centre’s economic competitiveness; Supporting the doubling of the city centre population by assisting in the provision of liveable and sustainable neighbourhoods that promote health, wellbeing and social cohesion; Reconnecting the city centre with surrounding communities and its riverside; Reducing traffic dominance and car dependency and creating a people friendly city centre, with improved public transport, that is healthier and cleaner; Greening the city centre and making it climate resilient with a network of high-quality public spaces and green-blue infrastructure that caters for a variety of human and climatic needs;
- Public Engagement and Local Needs – Survey and online survey responses to: Re-allocating Roadspace to Walking Wheeling & Public Transport; Prioritising people and place in the city centre; More places to sit outside cafes, bars and restaurants; Wider pavement space (removing some on-street car parking) on busy streets; Additional cycle lanes; Wider spaces around rail stations and bus stops for pedestrians;
- Sauchiehall Street – Before and After Case Study;
- Key aims of the CCTP, including: Re-allocating road space for active travel and green infrastructure; Delivering improved public transport and supporting/encouraging a shift to more sustainable modes, particularly walking, cycling & PT; Improving access for the mobility impaired; Achieving a 30-40% reduction in peak-hour private car traffic; Delivering improvements for servicing (e.g. goods, deliveries and waste collection) to improve the vitality; Supporting a doubling of the City Centre’s population by 2035; Supporting Glasgow’s aim to be carbon neutral by 2030;
- Transport Modelling – Developing the CCTP following Transport Scotland’s Strategic Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG); The Strathclyde Regional Transport Model (SRTM); Paramics (microsimulation) Modelling;
- Key Modelling Outcomes – The CCTP generates: 23% reduction in car use in the city centre (relative to the NoCCTP scenario in 2027); 42% increase in active travel in the city centre (12-hr weekday); The modelling suggests a slight (1%) increase in daily PT use, relative to pre-Covid levels; 12% increase active travel mode share of week-day city centre trips from 22% (pre-Covid) to 34%;
- Consultation and Public Engagement Responses;
- ACCESSIBLE Glasgow – “where all users with limited or restricted mobility are able to enjoy safe and ready access”;
- Case for Change – WALK Glasgow;
- Case for Change – CYCLE Glasgow;
- Case for Change – BUS/TRAIN/SUBWAY/METRO/TAXI Glasgow;
- Case for Change – STREETS Glasgow;
- Case for Change – SERVICING Glasgow;
- Case for Change – GREENER Glasgow;
- CCTP Delivery Plan 2023-2033 – Including Themes and Catalysts;
- People First Zone – To support the CCTP aims and objectives by limiting vehicular access of non-essential traffic within the central core and preventing through traffic travelling across the city centre core; Goal to reduce traffic, win space for sustainable modes and create a more pleasant environment for people living, working and visiting the centre; Plan to restrict through traffic whilst allowing public transport and providing access for residents, business needs, emergency and other services and blue badge holders; Further feasibility and proof of concept studies being undertaken.
If you meet our regular delegate qualification criteria but were unable to join us at Citation, Glasgow, for the live in-person event on December 7th, CLICK HERE and complete the short “Download form” (located at the bottom of the post) to receive a unique link enabling free access to the presentation video recordings and slides (including the film footage and slides from Angus and Steve’s keynote).
Those qualifying to receive the rich presentation content from this event include commissioning, procurement, trialling, partnering and policy leads, senior influencers, strategic decision makers and planners from local authorities (e.g. city, borough, metropolitan, district and county councils); public transport operators; regional transport partnerships, sub-regional transport bodies, combined authorities, integrated transport authorities and passenger transport executives; highways authorities and road operators; government and supporting national transport agencies; fleet operators, parking operators, prime contractors etc.
