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Go Bike East Dunbartonshire Newsletter Summer 2003
The Land Reform Bill and the East West route.
As mentioned in previous news letters, when the Land Reform
Act (Scotland) finally becomes law, every local council will
be obliged to formulate and implement an Access Strategy. This
will involve listing all paths and byways in a council area and
drawing up a plan of how to connect them to form a usable and
people-, not to mention bike and horse- friendly network!
East Dunbartonshire Council is well ahead with its plans: Two
Access Officers have been appointed and an Access Strategy Forum
comprised of all those who might be involved (from ramblers through
to landowners and farmers) is up and running. For convenience
East Dunbartonshire has been divided into eight areas with the
intention of recording, extending to form a network, and upgrading
the paths in each area in turn. The list is
The Kilpatricks, Bearsden & Milngavie, The Central Area
& Torrance,
Lenoxtown & Milton of Campsie, The Campsies, Bishopbriggs,
Kirkintilloch & Lenzie and Twechar.
The process has already been completed in Twechar and there was
an official opening ceremony held in the Twechar Community Centre
on Thursday 28 November 2002. At the same ceremony the East Dunbartonshire
Access Strategy was launched in its final form.
Plans for the central area, comprising Torrance, Balmore &
Bardowie, are well advanced. A list of known paths has been drawn
up and there has been extensive public consultation to
a) discover where people walk, cycle or ride at present,
b) where they would like to, and
c) what other improvements should be made to the path network.
The East West Route to connect Kirkintilloch, Torrance, Balmore,
Bardowie and Milngavie still has top priority, although the plan
has already run into trouble.
The route which was preferred by the residents of Torrance, Balmore
and Bardowie utilised the disused railway line and provided an
effective east-west route linking up these communities. However,
all seven of the landowners along the path's proposed route are
against the plan. Apparently there have been incidents where
people have shot at cattle. The land owners fear that as the
railway track is at a higher level than the fields, it would
provide a good vantage point for more of this type of criminal
activity. As a result the council believe that they would have
to use compulsory purchase powers to secure this part of the
route. However this would be expensive, time-consuming and unpopular.
In addition they would lose the support of external funding
sources such as Scottish National Heritage and The National Lottery
which do not fund projects where compulsory purchase powers have
been used.
What has been suggested instead is a route along the banks of
the Kelvin and Allander rivers. This would link to the right
of way at Cadder/Balmore but would be a meandering route and,
as it runs along the south side of the Kelvin, it does not connect
with Bardowie at all. Obviously this falls far short of the
expectations in these communities. The only other suggestion
at present is a footpath / cyclepath along the roadside, with
the section through Bardowie being, of necessity, a new construction.
This would be expensive and, as it is part of the roads infrastructure,
would not come under the Access Initiative's remit. Since the
west end of the route is more contentious the council plan to
start at the Torrance end and adjust the plans in the light
of future developments. GoBike! objects to this alternative
plan.
The plan will not
encourage locals to use the path as it is a long and winding route between the communities.
encourage families to use it as the road junctions envisaged are dangerous.
link up east and west of the council area.
link the villages with the countryside and paths to the north of Torrance.
add any real value to the local path network, given that the path along the Forth and Clyde Canal half a mile to the south serves the same function.
Naturally, the concerns of the affected landowners would have
to be addressed by the Access Forum, but it would be foolish
to develop, at considerable cost, an access route that is only
going to be lightly used by occasional recreational cyclists
and walkers.
The old railway track should form at least part of a route along
the Kelvin Valley as it is close to the villages, is well graded,
direct and has potential links with the Canal Path and the Allander
Walkway. The route developed along the Blane Valley is an example
of what can be done. The design failings made there could be
avoided in developing a cycle-friendly Kelvin route.
As reported in the “Bearsden and Milngavie Herald”,
local children in Baldernock made a strong plea to their Community
Council for a safe walking/cycling route to local towns. Their
view was that there was a need for a relatively direct and easily-accessed
route which they could use for social and school access to the
neighbouring towns. This could also be used by adults who might
wish to either walk or cycle – commuting, going shopping
or for relaxation – rather than use the busy A807 road.
If you are directly affected by these plans you can contact GoBike!
Our contact details are on page 8. It would also be helpful
if you contacted your local Community Council and of course your
own Councillor.
Elsewhere in this issue :-
PTF bid success
The Kirkintilloch Initiative.
The Scottish Outdoor Access Code.