14 Dec 2022
By Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
Ever since taking on my role at Glasgow Chamber of Commerce some thirteen years ago, new a public transport link to Glasgow Airport has been a priority of our members. We have watched various options, for achieving what in other countries would be a fairly uncontroversial infrastructure investment, come and go. The most recent proposal for a light rail metro system emerged from the 2019 report of Glasgow City Council’s Connectivity Commission and has since evolved into the Clyde Metro project.
With the final publication of the Scottish Government’s Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) we now have confirmation of the Clyde Metro as a national priority for Scotland’s transport system over the next twenty years. The sceptics tell me it will never be delivered and certainly not in time to help the city secure its 2030 net zero targets.
Leader of Glasgow City Council, Susan Aitken established the Connectivity Commission and described STPR2 as ‘a significant milestone in our pledge to establish a modern, sustainable, integrated public transport system for Glasgow’. She has invested political capital pushing for the Clyde Metro to be included in STPR2 as a reflection of its views and should be congratulated for getting this far. For the first time since 2007, we have a formal commitment to deliver a system that should bring a new public transport link to our airport.
The Connectivity Commission recommended that the first Metro line should connect the South Clyde Growth Corridor, namely; Paisley Gilmour Street railway station to the airport and then through Renfrew, Braehead and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital to the city centre. This corridor continues to grow, only last month Business Minister Ivan McKee welcomed the opening of the Centre for Process Innovation’s £88m Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre as a further step in the growth of the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District next door to the airport; a district that is destined to become a hub for several thousand new jobs.
The Clyde Metro is included in the STPR2 report as recommendation number 11 (from a list of 45) being a priority for enhancing access to affordable public transport and is justified as an answer to road congestion across Glasgow City Region. It is worth noting that the Connectivity Commission acknowledged the most challenging congestion is on the M8 west of the Kingston Bridge as it heads towards the airport.
The report specifically says that ‘Clyde Metro is aimed to improve connectivity with the Glasgow conurbation by providing high quality public transport links to key hubs or unserved or underserved areas’. Tackling social exclusion, encouraging switching from car use and freeing rail capacity for longer-distance journeys are all outcomes that Clyde Metro is intended to deliver.
The Clyde Metro is one of the ten projects that Glasgow Chamber of Commerce has endorsed as crucial for the city’s future economic prosperity. The Chamber adopted the Connectivity Commission in full knowing that there were compromises being made with previously held positions. We wanted to help bring the controversy over the rail link to the airport to an end and contribute to a fresh consensus on the way forward.
What the sceptics now tell me is that even if Scottish Government commitment has been secured, they don’t have the cash available to make it happen. John Swinney, it is said, will set out a Scottish budget tomorrow with very limited scope for manoeuvre and projects like the Clyde Metro could struggle to attract the financial commitments needed to make early progress. I know Chamber members would always argue that Scottish Government spending on projects that improve long term productivity should always be supported, particularly in today’s economic climate. The good news is that there is already £140 million of City Deal funds earmarked for the airport link - this should be put to good use starting the delivery of that corridor immediately. We also have the potential of attracting private sector investment. Let’s prove the sceptics wrong and finally deliver the transport system our city must have in order to flourish.
This article was first published in The Herald on Wednesday 14 December 2022
