City Deal Project Set to Breathe New Life into Tollcross Burn

A City Deal project that will breathe new life into Tollcross Burn and improve greenspace within Sandyhills Park in Glasgow’s east end, is set to start in the New Year.

Hidden, after being culverted through the park in the 1950’s – work to uncover a 425m section of Tollcross Burn will not only create an attractive focal point for visitors, flood risk will be reduced and biodiversity stimulated. Regeneration and investment in the local area will also become more appealing as development limitations caused by poor drainage are taken away.

Works to create the improved surroundings in Sandyhills Park will require the removal of trees from an area of poor quality woodland. This will be compensated for in the coming months with a robust and high quality landscape design scheme to provide a mixed habitat which will be attractive to an increased variety of plant and animal life. The design will also improve the overall look of the park, with plans to introduce 92 standard/feature trees, additional low level woodland planting, shallow water planting and meadow planting – all of which are well suited to the natural surroundings.

Glasgow City Region City Deal (funded by both the UK and Scottish Governments) is providing funding for the project through the Metropolitan Glasgow Strategic Drainage Partnership (MGSDP) – alongside the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Water.

Through MGSDP City Deal investment of circa £45m, Glasgow is working with partners to deliver a programme of drainage schemes, targeting areas of the city where rainfall negatively impacts communities.

The MGSDP is a partnership between public bodies and was founded in 2002 by Glasgow City Council, Scottish Water and SEPA, and has grown to include a wide range of local authorities, public and third sector bodies.

MGSDP projects/schemes aim to reduce flood risk and impacts, improve water quality and bring greenspace improvements through ‘blue-green’ interventions – a term used to describe where greenspace is linked to water. Drainage capacity is also increased, which allows land to be released for new homes and businesses, and so supports continued economic development and regeneration across the city region.

Both the UK and Scottish Governments are providing the Glasgow City Region local authorities with £500 million each in grant funding for the City Deal.