Better Barrhead News
Road Closure in Barrhead - 6th November 2008
Phase 1 of the new Church Road in Barrhead Town Centre will be officially opened on Friday November the 21st. To ensure that the road is ready and operational for this date Glen Street, the existing route to Main Street from the Carlibar area will be closed from Monday the 17th of November onwards. This closure will only affect the middle section of Glen Street. Access to the library and South Park Avenue will still be available.
More detail will be made available on www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk or by contacting Fraser Brown or Rodger Burnett from the Council's Roads and Transportation Department.
Email - fraser.brown@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk
Phone: 0141 577 3482
Email - rodger.burnett@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk
Phone: 0141 577 3412
Second annual Barrhead 10k a success
"Barrhead held it's second annual 10k run on sunday 21st September 2008. The weather was perfect and the start was delayed due to the unexpected high number of registrations on the day. Many locals helped out with the organisation, others came out to cheer on the runners. The route took the runners up Aurs Road and round the countryside beyond Springfield before finishing downhill to Cowan Park.
"Over 360 runners completed the run, the men's winner David Phee and the ladies winner Leanne Hamilton finishing in an amazing 33.16 and 38.42 respectively. The prizes were handed out by Scottish former distance runner Lachie Stewart, an inductee in the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. Particular credit goes to junior winner Scott Lawrie who qualified to run by having his 15th birthday a week before the race. In what was his first official 10k race he finished 11th overall with a time of 39:34. Not only that, he was thrilled at beating his PE teacher!
"Better Barrhead was among the sponsors and gave out caps to the first 150 runners to register and water bottles to all the runners. Barrhead Regeneration Manager Julian Morris, in his first ever 10k, made it round the course in 55 minutes and described the experience as "fabulous"." He extends thanks to the organisers and volunteers and looks forward to the Barrhead 10k being well and truly on the calendar for years to come.
Public Exhibition at Barrhead Sports Centre
Gillespies have been working hard over the past few months to pull together the draft urban design framework for the public spaces. The framework has been developed to reflect the last round of community events is on display at Barrhead Sports Centre until Thursday 9 October.
Residents, local businesses or anyone with a question or comment on the framework are being asked along to Barrhead Sports Centre on Thursday 2 October between 12noon and 7pm to speak to Gillespies staff and staff from the Council's Regeneration team. The Better Barrhead team will also be at the exhibition at the sports centre on Thursday 9 October between noon and 6.30 pm to answer further questions.
At all other times questionnaires will be available at the exhibition for completion and posting in the comments box. Alternatively, on-line questionnaires can be completed here.
East Renfrewshire’s regeneration convener, Councillor Tony Buchanan, said: “The plans being put forward will help to shape the town as part of our regeneration plans. Members of the local community have already kindly given their time at community events to help shape this document.
“Now we want to show the town what the community, our better Barrhead service and specialist design consultants Gillespies have developed.”
Boards from the public exhibition and the draft urban design framework can be viewed here.
Community Engagement Feedback Report
As part of the preparation for the Urban Design Framework, Gillespies have published a report that hopefully summarises everything that was said during the community events held in June. These findings will be fed into the overall Urban Design Framework for Barrhead (coming soon), but we thought it would be worthwhile showing you all exactly how your views and ideas had been incorporated into the design process.
The Community Report and the Urban Design Framework will be on display in Barrhead Sports Centre from Tuesday the 30th of September through to the Thursday the 9th of October. Members of the Regeneration team and Gillespies will be on hand to answer your questions about the display or the reports on Thursday the 2nd of October so please come along and share your view with us.
If you would like to order a copy of the community report please contact Gillian McNamara on 0141 577 3044 or on gillian.mcnamara@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk.
Community Engagement Report (PDF 1,289kb )
Nestle site Public Local Inquiry
There will be a public local enquiry into the planning application for the old Nestle site in Barrhead.
The owners, Barrhead Gateway Ltd., put in a planning application for housing and shops on the site last year. The council didn’t make a decision on the application and the owners took this as a refusal of permission and have appealed to the Scottish Government.
The government has appointed an independent Reporter to hold a public local inquiry to decide on the appeal. The inquiry will examine the detail of all of the planning issues and will be open to the public.
It will be in Dalmeny Community Hall for four days from Tuesday 26 to Friday 29 August, from 10am to 4.30pm each day with breaks for lunch.
Council welcomes £1.3m for greener travel
Barrhead residents will be able to improve their health and shrink their carbon footprint by ditching the car and walking and cycling more thanks to a £1.3m Scottish Government cash boost announced today by Stewart Stevenson MSP, Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change.
Council chiefs successfully bid for the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places fund cash. They’ll now plough the Scottish Government cash with match funding to give the £1.3m total, it into a paths network, cycling facilities and public transport improvements in Barrhead to add to the £100m better Barrhead regeneration drive already underway in the town.
The community and schools will be closely involved in the projects and families will be able to work out individual travel plans designed to cut their carbon footprint and car use. Road safety is also expected to improve with pedestrians and cyclists being able to use more dedicated off-road paths. One will link the town to the new Dams to Darnley Country Park.
The council plans to set Barrhead firmly on an environmentally-friendly road have the backing of a variety of bodies including Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Strathclyde Police, Cycling Scotland, Sustrans, the Energy Saving Trust, Go Greener, East Renfrewshire’s own environmental group and Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire.
Minister for Transport and Climate Change Stewart Stevenson said:
“With more cars on our roads, increasing levels of congestion and rising emissions, it is time for us all to look at our travel behaviour. We need to look at new ways to persuade people to consider more sustainable forms of travel. The proposals for Barrhead are impressive and have the potential to improve travel options for thousands of residents.
“Activities planned for Barrhead are based around the theme of promoting a healthy and active lifestyle and are being developed alongside a ten-year, £100 million regeneration of the area. The town already has extensive areas of green space, and is well served by transport links. The new Dams to Darnley cycle link is being created within the green belt next to Barrhead and this project will provide links between the town centre and the country park.
“This initiative could also be used as a template for other local authorities to follow, showcasing the very best examples of sustainable travel initiatives from across Scotland, resulting in a catalyst for change throughout the whole country. ”
East Renfrewshire Council leader Councillor Jim Fletcher said: “We are very pleased to have made a successful bid to boost green travel in Barrhead and we are especially delighted that the Minister has chosen our town to announce the national scheme. The cash will allow us to help boost health by encouraging walking and cycling, and cut carbon emissions by encouraging people to take the bus and train. The news comes at a time when we are already moving forward with the regeneration of Barrhead and the projects will help boost that as well.”
Cash boost bring College closer
Students could be attending classes at the proposed, new East Renfrewshire College in Barrhead, within the next two years thanks to the announcement of a £3m cash boost for the ambitious £14.6m project.
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has written to East Renfrewshire Council pledging the cash as part of the total needed to open the college which will be built by the council and run jointly with Reid Kerr, Cardonald and Langside Colleges.
It is believed that this is the first time the Scottish Funding Council has agreed to contribute money to a council rather than to a college for further education provision.
East Renfrewshire has already set aside £9m, leaving a £2.6m funding gap after taking the SFC cash into account. Council chiefs are now looking for cash to bridge the gap using a variety of possible avenues including European and Lottery Fund sources.
Council leader Councillor Jim Fletcher said: We are delighted at the good news from the Scottish Funding Council which allows us to start developing detailed plans which we will present to SFC in the near future.
A great deal of work has already been going on behind the scenes and council and college staff have been working on designs for the building and firming up on the sort of courses that will be taught there. We are hopeful that we can find the extra cash we need to make the college a reality.”
East Renfrewshire College is a key element in the council’s £110m better Barrhead regeneration project and will serve the whole of the council area. Plans are being developed for the college as an innovative educational centre incorporating a one-stop shop for adult learning and enterprise as well as a new community library for Barrhead.
Senior school pupils would also use the college as part of the council’s expanding fifth and sixth year vocational programme and courses for adults will be geared to serving the needs of local businesses and industry, including East Renfrewshire’s growing tourism sector.
East Renfrewshire is currently the only Scottish council without a further education college in its area and the new college in Barrhead would mean that students would not have to travel outwith East Renfrewshire to access further education.
Councillor Jim Fletcher said: The college would complete and compliment our sector-leading existing educational provision and cement the already excellent relationship we enjoy with our three partner colleges.”
Public Spaces - The Inaugural Design Event (Saturday 21st of June)
The first design event for the Better Barrhead Public Spaces project will take place on Saturday the 21st of June, 12-5pm at Carlibar Primary School.
The event, which will be co-hosted by the Better Barrhead team and our chosen design consultants Gillespie's, marks the beginning of the formal Better Barrhead design process and more importantly, the start of your involvement in making a genuine difference to the way your town will look in the future.
We appreciate that those attending will be giving up significant time from their weekend so we will be doing all that we can to make this an enjoyable and informal day with the emphasis placed upon us listening to your thoughts and ideas about your town. To demonstrate our commitment to incorporating your views we will also run a follow up event on Wednesday the 25th of June to show you exactly how your thoughts have been changed into design ideas.
The ideas gathered over these two events will be used to inform an urban design framework for Barrhead, essentially a document setting out what kind of paving, lighting, planting, play facilities etc will be used in the final designs of the Public Space projects. So, if you want to be part of the group that helps shape the way Barrhead looks in the future, please come along on the day.
If you would like to book a place on the event or have any questions, please feel free to contact me using this email address gavin.russell@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk or on 0141 577 3499. Alternatively, contact Pat Finnell on pat.finnell@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk or on 0141 577 8606.