12 June 2007
Airport rail link project boost for football facilities
Work to provide temporary football pitches and facilities across Renfrewshire during construction of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) has started following the appointment of a sports facilities contractor.
Funded by Transport Scotland, GARL promoter SPT plans for a viaduct crossing St James Playing Fields in Paisley to be built as part of the ambitious project to link the city centre with Glasgow Airport.
Construction work at the playing fields will mean 11 of the 22 pitches on the site become unavailable - so SPT will make replacements available at seven sites across the county during the period it takes to build the viaduct.
Souters Sports Ltd has won the contract worth £1.5 million to provide the temporary pitches and facilities after a three-way tender. These temporary pitches will all be of league standard and work has already begun on two pitches at Quarrelton Road in Johnstone.
SPT chair Alistair Watson said: "This is the first step towards providing first-class temporary football facilities across Renfrewshire while work to construct the viaduct at St James Playing Fields is taking place.
"These 11 football pitches, changing rooms and car parking facilities will be provided at seven different locations in the county. It is a huge boost for football in Renfrewshire and the west of Scotland.
"The pitches will replace those taken out of use at St James Park during the GARL construction phase. Work needs to start soon to let them bed down for around a year before play can start."
John Lyle is general secretary of Paisley and District Amateur League, a local football league. He said: "The Glasgow Airport Rail Link is the best thing that's ever happened to St James playing fields and we're pleased to hear that SPT will be providing temporary league pitches while the work takes place at St James. This is really important in terms of keeping football going in Renfrewshire over the next few years."
After the viaduct is completed 20 pitches will be available at St James Playing Fields. Two further pitches will be provided at Ferguslie Park.
Eleven pitches will be provided. These comprise:
- Two at Thomas Shanks, off Quarrelton Road, Johnstone
- One at Glenpatrick, off Glenpatrick Road, Elderslie
- One at Morar Drive, off Cardell Road, Paisley.
- One at Durrockstock, off Durrockstock Road, Foxbar, Paisley.
- Two at Lochfield Marshes, off Rowan Street, Paisley.
- Two at Ralston, off Allanton Avenue, Paisley.
- Two at Ferguslie, off Ferguslie Park Avenue, Paisley: these will be permanent replacements for the two (out of 22) pitches that will be unavailable once the St James Spur is constructed across St James Playing Fields.
The Glasgow Airport Rail Link Bill was granted Royal Assent by the Queen in January. The link will upgrade 9km (5.4 miles) of existing track between Shields Junction and Paisley Gilmour Street station and lay 1.9km (1.2miles) of new track between Paisley St James station and Glasgow Airport.
The new track will cross St James Park via a new viaduct, and the M8. A new platform will also be built in Central Station and new track laid at the Elderslie sidings.
The new rail link will provide a dedicated train service every 15 minutes between Glasgow Central Station and a new station at Glasgow Airport. Trains will stop once at Paisley Gilmour Street and the journey time will be 16 minutes.
The Department for Transport estimates that passenger numbers at Glasgow Airport are predicted to almost double, from 8.2million a year in 2003, to over 15 million passengers a year in 2030. Airport owner BAA Scotland's latest forecasts are even higher and indicate that passenger numbers could rise as high as 24 million by 2030. At present, 95% of these passengers travelling to Glasgow Airport do so by road.
The rail link will provide more travel choice for airport users and establish a sustainable transport link to Glasgow Airport, which is a major employer and one of the biggest wealth generators in the region. It will increase the rail opportunities for travellers using Paisley Gilmour Street station.
The link will also benefit the tourist industry. According to Roger Tym & Partners, Glasgow Airport Rail Link could help bring 52,500 additional UK and overseas visitors and contribute towards £10m in additional visitor expenditure every year to Glasgow, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde. The link would also support the Glasgow City region's conference sector business, worth an estimated £115m annually. In addition, the link will help support 1300 jobs across Glasgow and Renfrewshire including 650-700 gross new jobs in Paisley town centre.
Since 2004 SPT has consulted widely on its Glasgow Airport Rail Link proposals. SPT's formal public consultation into the Glasgow Airport Rail Link ran from 1 November 2004 to 28 February 2005 - there were a total of 1638 formal responses. In addition, 284 people attended public meetings and focus groups and 917 people visited the exhibition stands at various locations in Glasgow and Renfrewshire. The formal consultation saw more than 20,000 information leaflets distributed to homes and businesses along the route of the proposed link. A further 15,000 leaflets were distributed on local train services. A series of public exhibitions and meetings have been held and a website has also been created www.spt.co.uk/garl. In late January 2006, SPT sent out more than 12,000 leaflets to people living along the line of the proposed route. The consultation continues.
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