Council approves £290,000 developer funding towards Sauchiehall Avenue

Glasgow City Council today (16 May) approved the use of £290,237 of ENV2 funding towards the Sauchiehall Avenue public realm project.

The Sauchiehall Avenue - now nearing completion of the first phase - is the first project in the wider Avenues programme in Glasgow city centre, which is funded by the Glasgow City Region City Deal.

This ENV2 funding comes from development activity on council-owned land in the local council ward, and will specifically contribute to the £372,289 cost of the refurbishment of the northern footway of Sauchiehall Avenue between Charing Cross and Rose Street. This allocation will allow the redistribution of an equivalent amount of City Deal funding to the second phase of Sauchiehall Avenue, and lead to a greater quality of intervention in both phases.

The Avenues programme will bring economic, environmental and social benefits to everyone who lives, works, studies, shops, goes out or invests in the city centre, creating a more attractive and healthier environment and encouraging active travel. This is being done through the provision of new public realm, 'smart' surface water management infrastructure, enhanced public walkways, new cycle tracks, junction upgrades and new trees.

Work on the next phase of the Sauchiehall Avenue project - from Rose Street to Buchanan Street - is currently being designed with work on-site expected to begin in the Summer of 2020, with completion in late 2021.

The £1.13billion Glasgow City Region City Deal is an agreement between the UK Government, Scottish Government and eight local authorities across Glasgow and the Clyde Valley.  The UK and Scottish Governments are each contributing £500 million. The City Deal will fund major infrastructure projects, create thousands of new jobs and assist thousands of unemployed people back to work, as well as improving public transport and connectivity, driving business innovation and growth and generating billions of pounds of private sector investment.

The eight Scottish local authorities in the Glasgow City Region City Deal are: East Dunbartonshire Council, East Renfrewshire Council, Glasgow City Council, Inverclyde Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Renfrewshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council and West Dunbartonshire Council.

More information about the Glasgow City Region City Deal is available at: www.glasgowcityregion.co.uk.