Milngavie and Bearsden desperately need more parking near their stations. About ten years ago, the idea of a rail halt beside the Allander Leisure Centre emerged. There would be plenty of room to park there. To pay for it, some greenbelt land could be released to developers. Now CALA may get permission for hundreds of houses without contributing to a rail halt.

What follows are extracts from a letter written by a member of KWAG to the Herald Newspaper

The development will distort national transport policy by encouraging even greater volumes of peak-hour car commuting and worsening congestion, in defiance of Holyrood and Westminster transport policy to switch major capital funding into sustainable public transport, especially rail improvements.

Although land notionally will be safeguarded for a new Kilmardinny railway station and limited parking, the developer was allowed to evade a financial contribution, which Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) contended was a reasonable expectation as a convenient rail link would increase house values.

Siphoning off car commuter traffic at source is increasingly accepted elsewhere as an alternative to all-the-way road travel, environmental degradation and city centre congestion.

But greater use of the Milngavie line is thwarted as Milngavie and Bearsden station car parks are full before 8am and would be costly to enlarge.

All-day commuter parking intrudes on surrounding roads and public car parks. Milngavie Road has become an all-day car park for the adjoining Hillfoot Station. This is the consequence of a previous planning decision, which resulted in the in-filling of a potential 450-space park-and-ride opportunity on redundant railway land. Only 16 parking spaces survive.

* Herald article on this topic »

East Dunbartonshire Council and the Kilmardinny Action Group argued that part of the vast Kilmardinny site (the equivalent of 81 football pitches) was the last opportunity to provide a fit-for-purpose rail park-and-ride site serving the travel needs of the 50,000 residents in Bearsden and Milngavie and the expanding Blane Valley communities (Strathblane, Blanefield, Killearn and Balfron).

In total, 500 park-and-ride spaces were suggested for a Kilmardinny Station, rather than the token proposal of just 150 preferred by the developer to fit in mostly luxury houses.

The Reporter's acceptance of the developer's proposal for just 150 spaces was an error of judgment similar to the one at Hillfoot Station. Unless there is significant improvement to the inquiry's recom-mendations, a democratically agreed and officially ratified local plan target of affordable housing for the area would be wrecked and an adequate park-and-ride travel opportunity at a future Kilmardinny Station would be forfeited.

* The complete letter »