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Traffic

I’d like to make some comments in response to the traffic management issues raised in the Strathbungo News. Many of the suggestions in the newsletter seem to be aimed at making life easier for car owning residents.

Rather than parking on the pavement or stealing part of people’s front gardens, how about restricting parking to one side of the street? We live in a city with fairly good public transport links. It’s perfectly possible to live without a car as I and some of my neighbours do. Moving around Strathbungo is very difficult for pedestrians and cyclists. It’s not the hedges that are the problem: it’s the cars. Children aren’t safe to play in Strathbungo: the pavements are narrow, there’s cars parked all over them and the high volume of dog shit doesn’t help either.

No mention is made of any provision to improve life for cyclists. Cycling is part of the solution to the problems of our overcrowded streets and should be encouraged. If there was only parking on one side of the narrow streets then children and adults could be permitted to cycle in either direction.

20 is plenty, but fewer cars parked and driving through the streets would be a lot better.Upgraded signs might help, but often motorists choose to ignore the rules rather than miss the signs. Painted bays won’t stop the double parking, dangerous manoeuvring and parking in front of the bike lane that happen in Nithsdale Road. Back lanes. How about blocking them off in the middle to stop through traffic? Council services could have a key to lower the bollards.

L Forde

Bungo appraisal brief now online

Appraisers find much to praise, but plenty to do as well

Strathbungo’s long-awaited Conservation Area Appraisal is now available online.

It’s an attractive 26 page document that’s hugely informative, covering everything from the early history of the village to the current state of the lanes and railings.

Of course, the overarching concern is preservation and enhancement of the architecture and built environment and the good folk at the Council’s Development and Regeneration Services have given us a comprehensive guide to what needs doing.

Expect to receive a leaflet sometime soon explaining the implications of living in a conservation area and details about grants and other assistance available to householders.

Overall, the appraisers found much to praise in our little island – which makes it all the more important to get busy on the black spots. They mention, for example, the roundabout and the pedestrianised area outside Sammy Dow’s – no surprises there!

They also point to the footbridge landing at Moray Place as ‘cluttered with street furniture, poor fencing and damaged walls’ but alas, no 150 year old beech tree gracing it any longer.

Looking on the bright side, there’s also now strong evidence to underpin the Strathbungo Society’s campaign to restore the back lanes.

All in all it’s a great read and no home (in the conservation area) should be without one. To order your free copy, contact Susan McGowan on 0141 287 8629 or on email. Read it online (PDF).

Who lived in Strathbungo?

Help us create a fascinating profile of the past 150 years in the Bungo!

Like researching family history, tracing the history of one’s house is a fascinating insight into the past. What sort of person lived in the houses and tenements of Strathbungo? Were they industrial workers, tradesmen or professionals? Did they work locally or commute into the commercial and industrial city centre? Did they have servants? And how many children?

The Strathbungo Society would like to encourage and assist a co-ordinated attempt to record all the past owners of our houses and illuminate the lives of the families that have lived here over the past 150 years.

The sources of this information are easy to find in Glasgow’s Mitchell Library. The most comprehensive and easily accessible are the annual Trade Directories, which list the householder at every address, including their occupation and often their place of work.

For more detailed information on families and servants, the ten-yearly census returns record the names, relationship to the head of the household, age, marital status, occupation and place of birth for each person in the house on the night the census was taken.

Voters’ rolls (or electoral registers) list the names of all those eligible to vote in local and general elections, and valuation rolls list the owners and the rateable value of commercial and domestic properties and the names and occupations of tenants.

All we need is a handful of enthusiastic volunteers who would be willing to spend a few hours a month in the peaceful atmosphere of the Mitchell Local History section recording these names and addresses.

If there is sufficient interest in this the Society will provide an Excel spreadsheet, or paper form, for you to fill in. We will set up a spreadsheet on our website on which the information can be displayed for all to see – a unique resource for every Strathbungo resident and local historian.

Scottish Ballet plans for Tramway

Public asked to comment before plans are discussed by the Council

Scottish Ballet is a step closer to transforming a rundown part of Glasgow’s historic Tramway building into a £9million dance centre.

The company has lodged detailed plans with the city council to create its new headquarters in the building.

If the plans are approved, a disused section of the B-listed former tram depot – including the Pollokshaws Road facade – will be demolished.

Read the full story in the Evening Times.

Any problems with water?

Let the Strathbungo Society know

The Strathbungo Society has had reports of local residents having problems with the water supply since the recent works were carried out by Scottish Water – specifically, to do with water pressure, lack of hot water and interruptions to the central heating system.

We are now trying to find out how widespread this is so, to that end, if you have experienced any difficulties of this sort do send your details to us.

Meanwhile, we have been in touch with Scottish Water to ask how many people from Strathbungo have contacted them and they are either unable or unwilling to say. We are, they say, the first community group to ask for such information.

If you’ve had a problem and you’ve had to pay someone to come out and look at your system, you can make a claim for compensation against Scottish Water, but it must be in writing and quoting all the relevant details. The address to write to is:

Scottish Water
Customer Relations Department
Fairmilehead Office
55 Buckstone Terrace
EDINBURGH EH10 6XH

Please note: Scottish Water says that each case will be treated on an individual basis.

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