Engagement is Key in Delivering the Avenues
The £115 million city centre Avenues programme in Glasgow is without doubt a game-changer: the biggest active travel project in the UK, it will play a key role in ensuring that the city centre population rises over the next decade or so as we develop a transformed environment in the area and also maintaining its position as the biggest retail destination in the UK outside of London.
The Avenues will make the city centre an even more attractive place for people to live, work, study, shop, go out, do business, or invest in, bringing environmental, social and economic benefit to Glasgow.
So it is important that we understand what people want from the Avenues, and to do this we are engaging with the public to get their views, with the current consultation on the proposed Glassford Street & Stockwell Street Avenue being the latest example.
The engagement programme for the Avenues is a key part of making sure that they are designed and delivered in a way that meets the needs of all the people and organisations who use them. The Sauchiehall Avenue, the pilot project for the wider Avenues programme, had its origins in an extensive consultation process with local residents, businesses and organisations, who when considering with officers and consultants as how the Garnethill and Sauchiehall District could best be generated, identified the Avenue as a crucial part of doing this.
The deep level of consultation, including online surveys, on-street consultation, or public and stakeholder meetings is being repeated as the Avenues programme develops, with similar exercises taking place over the last year in different parts of the city centre.
Brian Fulton, Chair of the Sauchiehall Street Business Improvement District, said: “It was refreshing to see how the council handled the initial engagement process before the start of the Avenues project. I don’t think anyone knows better what is required from a public space than those who live and work in that area. So for the council to employ consultants to engage with the local community to understand what they wanted from the Avenue was a wise move.”
