THE HERALD REPORTS

Anger at scheme to tarmac city park for cars

STEPHEN STEWART February 02 2006

A COUNCIL plans to turn part of a famous urban park into a 600-space car park, a move which has angered residents.
The proposal is to use Glasgow's Victoria Park as a parking facility for the refurbished Scotstoun Stadium.
Glasgow City Council wants to build the park on disused red blaes pitches, fell around 20 trees, and build a new access road and driveway through the park. Locals are concerned about the impact of hundreds of cars and the potential loss of green space.
Jennifer Miller, 30, a resident, said: "The car park would transform this area for the worse. It is quite worrying to think that so many cars would be placed on our doorstep."
Dorothy Parker, 48, whose two teenage children regularly use the park, said: "To tarmac pitches in a 100-year-old park for parking seems ridiculous. How can it possibly be council policy to destroy its own parkland for parking?"
Nicola Mathews, 32, a teacher whose two young children visit the park, said: "Once this green space is lost, it will be gone forever. Green space is already disappearing at Hughenden, Broomhill, and Jordanhill campus."
The council hopes to create up to 624 temporary and permanent spaces for spectators at the revamped 6000-seat Scotstoun Stadium. The £11.3m Scottish Rugby and Athletics Stadium will be used for athletics events and be the home ground of Glasgow Warriors, a professional rugby team, when work is completed in 2007.
Council officials promised to provide two new grass pitches, one full-size pitch, and the other for seven-a-side games. More than 200 permanent parking spaces will be built around the pitches. The larger pitch will be used as an overspill car park for 400 cars when big events are on at Scotstoun.
Ian Hooper, depute director of cultural and leisure services, said the red blaes was an eyesore and would be replaced with green space and a reinforced grass area for general amenity purposes. "International athletics events are once every two years and rugby matches are fortnightly for a certain period of the year so there will be limited number of occasions when the overspill car park will be used."
He said there would be traffic management improvements.

Note from Ed
GONE;
WESTERLANDS
GARSCADDEN-BOTH GROUNDS
KILMARDINNEY

GOING;
BURNBRAE
JORDONHILL
HUGHENDEN -PART

This article was originally posted on 2-Feb-2006, 08:53 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 2-Feb-2006, 08:55.