Bus station plan ditched!

Good news – Buchanan Galleries have scrapped their ambition to build a multi-storey carpark on top of Buchanan Bus Station – a victory for common sense, though perhaps one motivated more by the financial climate than a sudden conversion to the value of public transport over private interests.

In my meetings with Scotland’s major bus operators over the last year to discuss the plans, it was made very clear that the enclosed environment that would have been created would have been deeply damaging to the service for bus passengers – and that’s before you even think about the two years of congestion chaos that that would have clogged up the city centre during construction work.

Buchanan Galleries are now looking to build their new car-park on Cathedral Street which is far preferable to the original scheme. However, I am still very concerned about other aspects of the plans – not least of which are the plans to scrap the Royal Concert Hall steps and replace these with a new “entrance feature” in the form of a “focal point” entranceway to the shopping centre and Concert Hall.

While the Royal Concert Hall steps would benefit from better maintenance and improved accessibility, I believe the steps are popular, and even beloved, by many Glaswegians. They form a civic space that the people have made their own. A rare space to sit and watch the world go by, to eat your pieces in peace and to rest your legs without having to pay £3 for a cup of coffee!

I will be looking carefully at any revised plans for this major development. I will also continue to call on the Council to “Save Our Steps!”