Shawlands Regeneration?

Thought you all might find the below interesting. We decided to find out more about the Town Centre survery that was carried out earlier this year so did a bit of looking on the council's site and found the email address for David Dunlop, the area planner who is coordinating the review. We sent David a quick email asking about the progress and he sent us back the below information and part of the bid document. What do you guys make of it?

"Following the set up of a Town Centre Steering Group last year, the Council have been gathering information about Shawlands which will feed into a Town Centre Action Plan. As part of this in May this year the Council launched a customer survey to find who uses Shawlands Town Centre, why, and what people feel are the main issues. With the help of Glasgow South East Regeneration Agency the Council also hope to commence a survey of businesses in the centre to find their perspective on what the issues are and how they can improve and attract more customers.

As at 1st October the survey resulted in 1196 responses and I am presently in the process of analysing the results of these and hope to publish them later in the year.

People told us for example, the things they liked about Shawlands are its:-

• Good pubs, restaurants, coffee shops, deli’s, clubs and its warm relaxed feel
• pleasant environment, community atmosphere, social life
• independent and specialist shops
• Good transport links to Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, M8 & M77
• Diverse population
• Beautiful parks, greenery and amenities

However they also told us they did not like:-

• Vacant shops and the Arcade
• poor shop fronts and lack of lighting
• Safety and Security
• crossing the road
• Lack of public toilets
• difficulty in parking

On 28 August, on behalf of the Steering Group, the Council also submitted a bid to the Scottish Government Town Centre Regeneration Fund. This fund was launched in May for one year only, and is intended to assist projects which help improve and protect town centres throughout Scotland during the economic downturn. The bid towards a Shawlands Public Realm and Lighting Project is for £680000, and is aimed at carrying out initial improvements towards lighting, footways, street furniture. It is also intended illuminate historic buildings, for example back lighting stained glass in three local churches, provide a lighting installation in Langside Hall, two illuminated fountains in Queens Park boating pond to help connect Shawlands to Strathbungo better, tree management along the western edge of Queens Park and the development of a Shawlands Café Quarter.

As part of the bid we also have a commitment of 100% match funding from private and public sector agencies which would take our overall spend to over £1.5 M. This includes for example the opening of an office of the Glasgow South East Regeneration Agency within the Arcade to directly assist busineses in the centre, advise new starts and help local residents access employment and training opportunities The announcement of successful bids will be on 2nd November. If we are fortunate in securing the funding, the project will be the first stage in delivering a detailed Town Centre Action Plan for the centre, providing early action on some of the key points of feedback residents have given by ‘brightening centre by improved lighting’ and helping to improve Safety and Security.

The proposed Shawlands Public Realm and Lighting Project will also aim to:-

• Build on the unique aspects of Shawlands by using light and key buildings to attract people back to the centre from its traditional catchment.
• Capitalise on a range of major attractions located on the Cathcart Circle e.g.; Hampden (1 m visitors each year), Pollok Park (700000+ a year), the Tramway (25000+), Queens Park (75k)
• Help ‘reposition the centre’ as the City approaches the 2014 Commonwealth Games, to become a leisure and social retail destination providing a specialised quality food, drink and a retail offering which is able compete against larger centres. "

As David mentioned they should have heard the results at the beginning of November so we'll send him another email to find out if they have been successful. While I don't agree with all their proposals, for instance I'm sceptical about fountains in the pond, but the fact that some plans are progressing is a positive sign and it looks like things are moving in the right direction. (In the comments below lets here what you think would be good for the area.)

While the survey has now been processed and an application made, the survey is probably still the best way to let the Council and the Steering group directly know your thoughts on what you'd like to see happen, so click below and fill it in.

Here are the links.

Quick Survey
Customer Survery (longer)