Scottish Infrastructure

[GNU_Linux]

Hopefully the new new town gets more roundabouts & underpasses

Proposals to demolish more than a third of East Kilbride's town centre to make way for homes and open air public spaces have been revealed.

South Lanarkshire Council has launched a public consultation on the plans, which would cut retail space by 40%.

Empty department stores would be replaced in an attempt to revitalise an area hit by changes in shopping habits.

The town centre boasts of having Scotland's biggest undercover shopping space.

However, there are now 75 vacant units and 507,000sq ft of empty floor space in the EK, East Kilbride centre.

East Kilbride was one of five totally new towns built in Scotland in the years after World War Two in an attempt to move people out of the over-populated slum conditions in parts of Glasgow and other cities.

In rethinking how towns looked, the planners put much of the town centre under cover, creating indoor retail and civic space in the heart of the town.

But in the decades that that have followed, despite redevelopments, many of the units have emptied.

EK was known as East Kilbride Shopping Centre until administrators were appointed last November after the collapse of owner Sapphire.

The administrators from Interpath Advisory have kept the centre open and are now working with the council to develop new plans for the heart of the town.

Retailers whose units are in the areas set for demolition will be offered alternative premises within the shopping centre "where possible".

One of the areas selected for potential demolition is Centre West - a three-level complex built between 1999 and 2001 at a cost of £90m. Despite being the newest part of the town centre it has declined since losing Debenhams, Top Shop, Zara and many more of the big high street names.

That site has now been picked for a new neighbourhood with private and affordable housing.

The new Civic Hub would have a building that could have a range of uses across the public sector, the arts and education - and a civic square as a meeting place and access point for the town centre.

David Booth, executive director of community and enterprise at South Lanarkshire Council, said: "Without strategic intervention the town centre will continue to decline and fall further behind its neighbours. We therefore need to show ambition in order to realise the town's potential."

The development, which is expected to suit the community for the next 50 years, would happen over several years if it gets approval.

Anthony Hubbert, from Threesixty architects, said that following the original mixed use vision for East Kilbride town centre in 1947, retail had increasingly come to dominate until changing shopping habits, primarily the rise of online shopping together with financial pressures, had led to the decline of in-person shopping.

He said: "Delivering a high-quality urban environment is key. We need to transform the shopping centre from an island in the middle of East Kilbride into the heart of the town by creating a permeable, safe and accessible environment."

Negotiations are also under way regarding a supermarket taking over a new space at the current Olympia Mall entrance, and a hotel replacing the ageing entrance area near the bus station at Princes Mall. the ice rink and cinema would remain.

Public and stakeholder consultation has begun with drop-ins at a shop in East Kilbride town centre and a project website being launched on 18 September.

[RiG]

The Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Report has been published. Might take a while to read...

https://www.edinburghtraminquiry.org/final_report/the-inquiry-report/

[Newbornbairn]

4 hours ago, RiG said:

The Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Report has been published. Might take a while to read...

https://www.edinburghtraminquiry.org/final_report/the-inquiry-report/

Lessons have been learned. 

[HibeeJibee]

Call for extra £8m to eradicate stoats from Orkney - BBC News
 

A project to eradicate stoats from Orkney could take another five years and cost a further £8m to complete, it has been claimed.

The Orkney Native Wildlife Project began trapping the animals in 2019 and has so far removed more than 5,000. The animals are said to pose a major threat to breeding seabirds as well as the native Orkney vole. Project organisers said the task was always going to be difficult but it was setback by Covid pandemic restrictions.

The project has already cost about £8m but those behind it claim the same amount will be required to finish the job, with three years of eradication and two years of further monitoring. It said progress was significantly impacted by the Covid pandemic which prevented trapping throughout the 2020 breeding season. This allowed the stoat population to rebound to pre-eradication levels undoing the previous progress.

Detection dogs are already a familiar sight on the East Mainland and the linked isles, including Burray and South Ronaldsay, but from next year there will be 10 working across the whole of the Orkney mainland. Organisers hope that within two years it can transition into the 'mop-up' phase, meaning that the stoat population has reached a critical tipping point in Orkney. The eradication is set to be complete in 2027, at which point the two-year monitoring period will kick in.

The project estimates the cost of finishing the eradication and returning Orkney to being stoat-free will be an average £1.5m a year over five years. However, it said the cost of supressing stoats enough to prevent them from spreading to more islands was estimated at a similar amount per year forever.

[welshbairn]

 

[Lurkst]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

 

TBF I was doing those moves to that soundtrack as well.

 

[Sergeant Wilson]

17 hours ago, Lurkst said:

TBF I was doing those moves to that soundtrack as well.

 

I hope someone has put you in the recovery position.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

21 hours ago, welshbairn said:

 

The voiceover refers to a "Stoat on Steroids" when it should more properly say a "Stoat on Buckie, MDMA and sunny delight"

 

[highlandmac]

On 19/09/2023 at 12:33, RiG said:

The Edinburgh Tram Inquiry Report has been published. Might take a while to read...

https://www.edinburghtraminquiry.org/final_report/the-inquiry-report/

money well spent

despite the only real use of edinburghs tram system being the airport link(though the new extention down to leith is a step in the right direction),it seems now that if youre flying very early or arriving very late,you cant get a tram from/to the city.given how much has been wasted on this project this defys belief imo

Edited September 26, 2023 by highlandmac

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

On 24/09/2023 at 18:48, HibeeJibee said:

 It said progress was significantly impacted by the Covid pandemic which prevented trapping throughout the 2020 breeding season. This allowed the stoat population to rebound to pre-eradication levels undoing the previous progress.

FFS

Why did Covid stop them going outside to place traps?

 

Also £1.5m annual slush fund to check for stoats on other islands. GTF.

 

[topcat(The most tip top)]

3 hours ago, highlandmac said:

money well spent

despite the only real use of Edinburgh’s tram system being the airport link

you’ve clearly not had to try and squeeze onto a tram at half past five 

 

 

[Loonytoons]

2 hours ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said:

FFS

Why did Covid stop them going outside to place traps?

 

Also £1.5m annual slush fund to check for stoats on other islands. GTF.

 

Covid regulations I would think.

Pretty sure stoat trapping didn't fall into the criteria for being allowed to be out and about.

[D Angelo Barksdale]

If they don't get the money, they should just collect as many stoats as they can and release them in Holyrood.

[HibeeJibee]

1 hour ago, Loonytoons said:

Covid regulations I would think.

Pretty sure stoat trapping didn't fall into the criteria for being allowed to be out and about.

It was their job - animals didn't starve in fields as farmers stayed in. Swathes of populace carried on working, indoors and out?
 

4 hours ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said:

Also £1.5m annual slush fund to check for stoats on other islands. GTF.

So far it's cost £1,600 per stoat... this year costs £150k per dog!

[PossilYM]

On 13/09/2023 at 20:11, GNU_Linux said:

Hopefully the new new town gets more roundabouts & underpasses

 

 

So somebody somewhere has saw through EK Dodgy.

[Loonytoons]

1 hour ago, HibeeJibee said:

It was their job - animals didn't starve in fields as farmers stayed in. Swathes of populace carried on working, indoors and out?
 

Farmers were deemed to be essential workers, not sure stoat trappers island hopping and visiting people's property would fall into that category. 

Really can't be arsed getting into an argument over this though, it was a fair assumption that covid regulations caused the hiatus in trapping.. 

 

 

[strichener]

12 hours ago, Loonytoons said:

Farmers were deemed to be essential workers, not sure stoat trappers island hopping and visiting people's property would fall into that category. 

Really can't be arsed getting into an argument over this though, it was a fair assumption that covid regulations caused the hiatus in trapping.. 

 

 

It is a fair assumption that every problem that we are facing is not a result of covid regulations no matter how hard some try to portray it as such.  It was a time for a large proportion of the population to sit back, do nothing and get paid for it and then complaining when the gravy trail derailed.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

3 hours ago, strichener said:

It is a fair assumption that not every problem that we are facing is a result of covid regulations no matter how hard some try to portray it as such.  It was a time for a large proportion of the population to sit back, do nothing and get paid for it and then complaining when the gravy trail derailed.

FTFY

[RawB93]

https://news.stv.tv/west-central/glasgows-sauchiehall-street-set-to-undergo-high-quality-5-6m-makeover
 

Sauchiehall St getting it’s tits and lips done. Not before time. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

1 hour ago, RawB93 said:

https://news.stv.tv/west-central/glasgows-sauchiehall-street-set-to-undergo-high-quality-5-6m-makeover
 

Sauchiehall St getting it’s tits and lips done. Not before time. 

That budget wouldn't be enough to get Sauchiehall Street a good wash.