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The first letters have landed on doormats with the Council’s response to the Strathbungo Society Back Lanes Reinstatement Consultation Report.
The Council is funding the community’s preferred option based on the consultation results, that is uplifting and relaying the existing cobbles (where necessary), clearing and repairing drains and removing built up silt and vegetation.
From the letters sent it would appear the plan is to work on the lane between Regent Park and Queen first. We will be contacting the Council to confirm this and when the other lanes will be done.
Residents who have concerns or objections are asked to contact the Development and Regeneration Services department on 287 8555. It is still Brain Parr and Donald Linn who are the contacts in the department and have been dealing with the works in this area since the start.
After decades of back lanes difficulties it will be really satisfying to see them repaired at last and it was great to get the news on the same day as our last community event before we tread the gleaming cobbles at Bungo In The Back Lanes!
A quick update – it looks like the repairs won’t extend beyond the lanes affected by the mine workings for contractual reasons. This is disappointing news. Better news, however, is that the batching plants on Nithsdale Road should be packed up over the next couple of weeks and finally the area can get back to normal!
According to all the records the residents asked for the second option – to lift and relay ALL the cobbles. Has the agreement changed? The only concern I have with local repairs instead of a total relaying of the cobbles is the problem of inserting cobbles into a hole – it is not easy to ensure that the cobbles are properly laid in so that they support each other. This could lead to early failure of the repaired areas. Have the council suddenly decided that relaying the cobbles would be too expensive?
Hi Peter, as far as I know the agreement has not changed. I think it’s a let sleeping dogs lie response. Some areas of the back lanes have been lifted and relayed already – to disturb them again may well cause unnecessary problems. As the works are not extending beyond the original lanes, cost is unlikely to be an issue as the quote for uplifting and relaying the cobbles came in at less than half the budget – even if they were wildly off there would still be enough to do all the cobbles if (and it may be) required.