What are the plans for the Main Street?
The plan is to resurface the Main Street pavement with hard-wearing slabs of natural stone to provide a stable, secure and attractive pavement. In addition, some improvements will be made to the street furniture (benches, railings, bollards etc) with more distinctive designs and to provide a more coherent streetscape.
The improvements will be made to the south side of the Main Street from Greenlees Road to West Coats Road. A firm of landscape architects, DWA, have produced the designs displayed in Cambuslang Gate.
Click to download copies of the Detailed layout – west and Detailed layout – east
What kind of pavement is envisaged?
The proposals are to pave most of the walking area of the pavement with whinstone, a traditional dark-coloured stone quarried in Scotland. The pedestrian area will be kept clear of street furniture as much as possible to provide a clean and open visual appearance. The paving slabs will be embedded in concrete not sand.
Benches, railings, bollards etc will be located between the pedestrian area and the kerb. A different coloured slab will be used for this area. A similar approach has been taken in Glasgow, Paisley and other towns.
The central part of the Main Street (between the Ritz Bar and the Asian Tandoori) will be paved in green schist to make it distinctive. We plan to use this area for street markets and other community events in future. The bike rack will be removed and replaced with smaller racks in different parts of the Main Street, and the bus stop may be moved to the layby.
What kind of street furniture is planned?
The designers have proposed different options – as shown on this image. Benches could be of steel, cast-iron, stone or wood. Bollards, litter bins and railings come in different styles. We have been asking local people to indicate their preferences and we will update this post with the results when they are collated.
Click to download a copy of the materials and features of the street furniture
How did you decide on these proposals?
Cambuslang Community Council have set up a specific group, Cambuslang Future, made of residents and shopowners to develop the plans. Over the past five years, we have undertaken a major community survey and a separate business surveys. Other consultations have also been undertaken. Details of the work done to date are here.
All the community consultation done says that the top priority for local people and businesses is to replace the current pavement. People are fed up with the poor state of the current pavement which has led to trips and falls, and it looks tired.
The survey results also show that local people and businesses also want to see more life on the Main Street in the form of events and street markets.
The landscape architects did their own assessment which supported the results of our surveys.
Click to download the Streetscape apppraisal west, the Streetscape appraisal east, and the assessment of Constraints and opportunities
How are the improvements being funded?
Cambuslang Community Council successfully bid for a share of the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Fund, winning a grant of £620,000. We have contracted with South Lanarkshire Council to implement the works on our behalf.
When will the work be done?
Under the conditions of the Town Centre Fund grant, the work needs to be completed by the end of September 2020. We anticipate that the works will be contracted by the end of March and that the construction work will take place (one section at a time) from April to September 2020.
Why is only part of the Main Street being improved? What about other sections?
We originally submitted a bid for £1.42 million to enable us to resurface the entire length of the Main Street from the Hospice Shop to Cambuslang Station. However, we were only awarded £620,000 although this is a quarter of South Lanarkshire Council’s allocation of the Town Centre Fund and the largest single award in South Lanarkshire.
When will the other sections be improved?
Working with South Lanarkshire Council, our intention is to submit bids for further funding in future as opportunities arise.
What about other improvements? Cambuslang town centre needs much more than a new pavement.
We agree. We have developed a regeneration strategy and action plan for Cambuslang Town Centre which was agreed last year (a copy is available here. The plans are wide-ranging and include:
- improving the remainder of the Main Street pavement
- removing waste bins from the street with a new waste management plan;
- improving parking capacity with a new park-and-ride car park on Bridge Street to free up more space in local car parks (Allison Street) for shoppers;
- introducing free wifi on the Main Street;
- attracting a wider variety of shops and services;
- providing alternative arrangements for people to get access to cash;
- potentially developing a community hub in the central area of the Main Street.
The Cambuslang Future group has a regular programme of meetings with South Lanarkshire Council to discuss the implementation of the strategy. Please see the regular Cambuslang Future newsletter for details.
Our elected members – the three elected South Lanarkshire Councillors for Cambuslang West, our MSPs and MP – are providing active support for the strategy, providing advice and lobbying for investment and improvements in different areas.
Further information
Please email us at cambuslangcomco@aol.com if you would like more information or have other questions.
Cambuslang Community Council are always looking for new members. However, you can get involved in some of the activities (e.g. Cambuslang Future) without being a Community Councillor. Just send an email with your interest to cambuslangcomco@aol.com