This morning the Strathbungo Society received the welcome news that Network Rail’s proposed tree works on the Glasgow – E.Kilbride line won’t start this weekend. Nicola Sturgeon, our MSP, had earlier in the week secured agreement from Network Rail that they would meet with the Strathbungo Society. We asked her then to clarify whether Network Rail would suspend any work until we had a chance to negotiate and she has received the following reply from the Network Rail Communications Manager: “I have spoken to the project team and can advise that we won’t be doing any work for now on the stretch of railway between Nithsdale Road and Crossmyloof station.”
Continue reading
Category: Network Rail (Page 3 of 5)
(Statement from Fiona Mackinnon on behalf of the Strathbungo Society)
Network Rail are planning to cut down every tree along the 11 miles of track between East Kilbride and Glasgow Central. Their timetable starts in September i.e . now. When the chainsaws and giant chippers plan to arrive to work all night in Strathbungo, we do not know.
The Chair, Treasurer and Secretary of the Society and a number of local residents went along on Monday night to Network Rail’s ‘drop-in information’ session but came away shocked by the potential scale of destruction planned but also by the lack of detail from Network Rail about what they will do and when. Most importantly there was no real explanation why.
Continue reading
The Network Rail Project Manager has provided the Strathbungo Society with an update on the footbridge works and apologised for the delay. The construction programme will now extend until 19th February 2019 and the footbridge will remain closed until then.
What’s happened is that significant structural defects, which had been hidden by many years of debris/gunge etc, were revealed during the process of cleaning and steelwork preparation. Specifically, far more corrosion was found beneath the Durbar plate deck than predicted. The deck is double layered and it appears was simply over plated at some point in the past. Network Rail made allowances for the corrosion beneath the deck but not to anywhere near the extent they have uncovered. As a result they now need to remove and renew the entire deck.
The good thing is that corrosion has been caught before it got any worse.
Network Rail will be holding a public drop-in event tomorrow, Tuesday 6th December 2016 in Queens Park Baptist Church Hall, 180 Queens Drive, Glasgow, G42 8QD from 3.30pm to 6.45pm. In attendance will be representatives from Network Rail and the Strathbungo Society, as well as their contractors, QTS, all of whom will be on hand to answer any questions or address any concerns you may have about this work.
This is an opportunity to discuss
- what will happen to vegetation outside your house on Moray Place when work starts in February
- what replanting scheme, if any, you would like to see afterwards
We would really value your input. If you are a Moray Place resident, consider bringing a photo if you have particular concerns over vegetation opposite your house.
Queens Park Baptist Church Hall, 180 Queens Drive, 3.30pm to 6.45pm
Queens Park Baptist Church
Many will recall Network Rail’s intention to erect a high security fence along the edge of Moray Place, back in January 2015. Well after a lot of protest, historical research, and more latterly civilised discussion, with the assistance of the Strathbungo Society, Network Rail have a new proposal which appears much more sympathetic to affected residents. Attached below are a communication from the society, and a formal notification from Network Rail, delivered to Moray Place residents in the last week, setting out the plans, which are likely to go ahead in February.
One major change is that the new fence will now be set back approx 5 feet from the road edge (in line with the wall at one end, and the post & wire fence at the other end, of Moray Place), but that there will be considerable loss of vegetation installing the fence, including the majority of trees. This will leave a strip of land that is part Network Rail, and part residents’ property, but which Network Rail are happy for us to cultivate, within reason.
If you are a resident, the choice is yours – it’s your land – but there are some obvious choices
- Retain what’s there, where practical – for instance the laurel planting at the Gardens end
- Rip it up and start again – and do your own thing
- Rip it up and start again – as part of a community planting scheme
There seems to be a lot of interest in the latter, which the Society would be glad to facilitate, and we are already looking into possible options, and funding sources. However we need your help and suggestions, especially if you would like to get involved yourself. Suggestions so far include a continuous scheme the length of Moray Place, anything but a continuous scheme (!), beech hedging, small trees such as Rowan, various shrubs, a seating area at the end of Marywood Square, and lovers’ seats; so one can watch the trains while their partner turns their back on them!
February isn’t far away, so please get in touch. See the documents for contact details, or comment here.
Andrew Downie, Fiona MacKinnon, Heather Alexander, Kevin Kane
for The Strathbungo Society
Society Communication to Moray Place Residents Nov 2016
Network Rail Communication to Moray Place Residents Nov 2016
The Strathbungo Society has been seeking to positively influence our biggest neighbour – Network Rail – for the past two years. One issue has caused unnecessary uncertainty: what are the legal and ‘established’ boundaries along Moray Place? Network Rail didn’t seem to know, nor did we.
So the Society’s Andrew Downie decided to do some research, looking at the original feu disposition between the original landowner and railway company as well as information from residents’ title deeds.
His resulting report is the definitive guide to the legal and ‘established’ boundaries that have developed along Moray Place over the past 100 years or so. Andrew’s report has been shared with Network Rail who accept it in full. The report has aided the Society’s discussions with Network Rail as to where it can – and cannot – place any new fence.
It’s not the answer to everything about Network Rail’s proposed fence, but it has certainly shed much-needed light on the where the legal and established boundaries lie. If you want to read it yourself, please do – click on the link below.
The Railway Boundary at Moray Place (.pdf, 817 kb)
A quick update on what is happening. Kevin Kane, Chair of The Strathbungo Society, wrote to Network Rail with a number of queries, and a request for a meeting.
Strathbungo Society letter to NR 021215
The following reply was received on 7 December. A date has not yet been set, but hopefully soon. We’ll keep you informed.
Dear Kevin,
Thank you for your email – yes I can confirm receipt of your previous correspondence. I have discussed this with colleagues on Friday and I will develop a response to the points raised.
It would be most helpful if you could confirm if you are my main point of contact? I have received correspondence from a number of different residents on this matter and to progress discussions I think it would be beneficial if there was one central point of contact for the Strathbungo Society. We will of course respond to all queries raised however one point of contact representing the Strathbungo Society would be most helpful.
In relation to the proposed meeting – which we are of course happy to attend –we feel that this should be focused on Moray Place and ensure a resolution on this matter before reviewing Darnley Road.
If you would like to discuss any of these points further please let me know – happy to chat on the phone or over email. As you will appreciate we are very keen to find an appropriate solution to this fencing.
Kind regards,
Niamh
Niamh Hegarty | Senior Public Affairs Manager Scotland (acting) | 07739 786754
Green powder coated fencing, as proposed by Network Rail for Moray Place
The saga of Network Rail’s attempt to erect a prison style weldmesh security fence along the length of Moray Place continues. In September the Society wrote to Niamh Hegarty, Senior Public Affairs Manager at Network Rail Scotland, expressing two main concerns, firstly that security fencing was wholly inappropriate, being in a conservation area, and directly in front of residents’ homes, and secondly that Network Rail insisted the fence would be on their boundary, but that they didn’t know where that was. Their assumption that it is the bow topped metal fence on the kerb is, in our view, incorrect. We provided historical evidence to support this in our letter. The letter is included here for your information.
Network Rail have finally replied, suggesting concessions on the design of the fence would be costly, and that they still intend to place the fence on the road edge. They claim to provide evidence to back this up, and are mildly threatening about residents’ counter claims, suggesting the residents’ official land registry entries are trumped by their in-house map. We, on the other hand, note the land registry entries are representative only, and the true boundary is set further back from the road in a single straight line.
15 11 06 Letter to Strathbungo Society. Click to read Network Rail’s reply. Their supporting evidence appears below.
Strathbungo Disposition 1858. This 1858 Disposition describes the land they own, but contains little detail.
This is an extract from the map in the disposition detailing their boundary in Strathbungo. Accurate, isn’t it? Compare with the maps in our letter above, which they have ignored.
Map on which they base their claim to knowing the exact location of their boundary
Network Rail Modern Map. This document was submitted to us earlier in the year showing Network Rail’s operational map shaded blue. The red boxes are land registry entries for the houses on Moray Place. They now submit it as their land claim, but note that it is their map, and not an official land registry excerpt.
Network Rail have not specified the fencing they intend to use, not set a date for a future meeting. The Society will be meeting shortly to consider how we respond, and we will keep you informed.
Happy reading. If you want to send private comment back to the Society, and / or want us to keep in touch, complete the form here. More general comments for the blog can go in the comments box further down.
Andrew
We are holding a Network Rail update meeting on Tuesday 2nd June 2015 7.30 – 8.30pm at McMillan’s on Pollokshaws Road. All welcome and as McMillan’s is a restaurant children are welcome too!
At the Strathbungo Society Committee meeting on Tuesday 21st April 2015, it was agreed that the candidates, who are standing in the General Election, for Glasgow Central (our constituency) would be written to, asking them for their views, policy and support regarding the operation and accountability of Network Rail (NR).
There is a regulatory body for NR: the Office for Rail and Road (ORR), which is a non-ministerial department of the Department for Transport. All the powers of ORR are derived from Parliament. However, its regulatory powers are limited to economic efficiencies and health and safety of the whole rail industry. ORR, like NR itself, is funded by taxpayers.
Despite NR’s status as a Central Government body – it was re-classified in September 2014, adding some 34 billion to public sector debt in the process – it seems to operate like a private company, with, it seems, no direct accountability through its regulatory body, ORR at either Westminster or the Scottish Parliament.
Network Rail have the power to cut down all the green corridors in the whole of this country, as well as the rest of the UK on the grounds of their duty to ensure safety – Their powers nationally seem to be without limit. This is not right. Other private companies like BT, Scottish Gas etc have regulatory bodies to temper their operation and to hold them accountable to government and the taxpayer.
The candidates standing for our constituency have been written to today. A copy of the letter is attached and if any of you wish to contact the candidates yourself on this matter, please do so.
The Glasgow Central candidates are:
Conservative: Simon Bone Simon.Bone@ScottishConservatives.com
TUSC: Andrew Elliott scottishtusc@gmail.com
Green: Cass MacGregor cass.macgregor@scottishgreens.org.uk
Cannibis is Safer than Alcohol: James Marris info@cista.org
Socialist Equality: Katie Rhodes Katie.rhodes1917@yahoo.com
Labour: Anas Sarwar anas.sarwar.mp@parliament.uk
SNP: Alison Thewliss alisonthewliss@hotmail.com
Liberal Democrat: Chris Young chris@chrisyoung.org.uk
You can download a draft letter to the election candidates here:
© 2024 The Strathbungo Society
Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑
Recent Comments