As part of the investment for the Commonwealth Games and in connection to the regeneration taking place in my ward through Clyde Gateway, the train station at Dalmarnock will be receiving a substantial upgrade.I went for a meeting with SPT officials this week, and got a bit more information on the plans for the station and the timescale for the improvements.
I use the station occasionally going to meetings in Dalmarnock, but it's a bit isolated and it's usually easier to get the bus.
I'm not alone in this view, as it's pretty quiet. At the moment, the station faces out on to Swanston Street, which makes it all but invisible from the main road. Some early plans show a change in the entrance to Dalmarnock Road, and this seems to have been a popular idea at Clyde Gateway's consultation meetings.
SPT are currently working with partners to draw up a series of options, and working out the costs of the improvements.
The station itself, as you can see from the pictures, is pretty unusual, with large concrete beams supporting retaining walls, and bridges going overhead. This makes it more challenging to get the station up to the best standards to allow access for disabled passengers. Lifts would clearly be the best solution, but with limited space, I can see that careful planning will be required to fit them in safely.
The station will be well-placed for the Commonwealth Games, and everyone is keen to see it play a part, bringing tourists, and then being available for the new residents who will come to live in the area afterwards.
The officials hope to have the refurbishment work completed by the autumn of 2013, and I'll certainly keep you updated with any further information.
Eastbound platform - this may end up being the new entrance from Dalmarnock Road.
Platforms and tunnel - the roads above are Swanston Street on the left and Dalmarnock Road straight ahead.
Bridge over the tracks and supporting beams - you can see how narrow the station is, and how little room there is to redevelop.
I'd like to give my thanks to Cllr Watson and his staff for their time and the helpful information they provided.
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Lockerbie bomber report critical of Kenny MacAskill undermined by partisan row
The highest-profile inquiry ever conducted at Holyrood failed to draw united conclusions on the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, with its findings split on party lines.
A report by the Scottish Parliament’s justice committee, published today, claimed that SNP ministers’ decision to free Megrahi was flawed on several grounds. However, the credibility of the inquiry was undermined by committee in-fighting on almost every significant point, with its main conclusions supported only by opposition members.
For nearly every recommendation in the report, there was a dissenting view from the committee’s three SNP MSPs, who claimed that Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Minister, had acted properly.
The net result was a rehash of the political row that surrounded the decision to release Megrahi on Aug 20 last year, with the three opposition parties combining to form the majority opinion.
Bill Aitken, the Tory committee convenor, said: “This has been an unusual exercise for the justice committee, and it is fair to say that it has been quite a divisive one. Three members of the committee opposed the decision to undertake the inquiry in the first place, and it was not possible to agree on most of the conclusions without a vote.”
The committee members managed to agree that Mr MacAskill acted in good faith and they had “a much clearer idea” on his thought processes in deciding to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds.
However, the five Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat members criticised Mr MacAskill for visiting the bomber in prison when considering whether to free him. They said “this approach has created an inappropriate precedent, which may be relied upon by other prisoners in the future”.
The three SNP MSPs disagreed with this, claiming that Mr MacAskill was duty-bound to hear representations from Megrahi. There was a similar split over whether the Justice Minister had sought sufficient medical advice before releasing the Libyan on the grounds that he was terminally ill with cancer and had less than three months to live.
Megrahi is still alive nearly six months on, prompting the committee’s three Labour MSPs and Mr Aitken to argue that Mr MacAskill should have sought a second opinion. However, the three SNP MSPs said it was “quite appropriate” for the Justice Minister to rely on the advice of the Scottish Prison Service’s director of health and social care.
The opposition members said Mr MacAskill should have given more consideration to releasing Megrahi to an address in Scotland. This conclusion was rejected by the Nationalists, who cited advice from Strathclyde Police that significant numbers of officers would be required to protect him.
Even the timing of Mr MacAskill’s announcement releasing Megrahi was disputed, with the opposition claiming there should have been a statement to MSPs after Holyrood’s summer recess.
The most extreme example of the committee’s partisanship came when the three Labour members concluded that the minister should have sought written assurances from the Libyans that the bomber would not receive a hero’s welcome in Tripoli.
The three SNP members said there would have been no guarantee that the sickening scenes of cheering crowds waving Scottish flags would not have happened anyway.
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