Fears new homes will create traffic chaos

Save Bishopbriggs Canal Greenspace group wants East Dunbartonshire Council to 
reject plans by CALA Homes for the new development north of Meadowburn.

A record-breaking 569 objections have been made to the council over the application.

As well as environmental concerns, a key argument by the group is that local roads will be unable to tolerate the extra traffic as a result.

Its members, made up mainly of local residents, expressed their concern after meeting with representatives from the roads department.

A spokesperson from its steering group said: “We were very concerned to hear that East Dunbartonshire Council’s roads department does not appear to fully recognise the impact that additional vehicles would have on roads around the Meadowburn area.

“Currently there are a lot of traffic issues to overcome with congestion problems on Kirkintilloch Road. There is no proper infrastructure planned to cope with additional vehicles.

“Installing traffic signals for cars emerging from Meadowburn onto Kirkintilloch Road is unlikely to alleviate current problems at this junction. If the proposed housing development was to go ahead the traffic problems in the area would simply become far greater. Frequently there are long queues of vehicles at Hilton Road, Balmuildy Road, Meadowburn and Cadder Road junctions with Kirkintilloch Road and delays can be extremely long.

“Traffic problems on Kirkintilloch Road and the surrounding roads should not be allowed to intensify.”

Council boss Thomas Glen said: “Potential traffic issues have been the subject of detailed discussions and are covered within the report to the planning board, which meets on Tuesday, September 19.

“Any potential developer contributions would be dependent on the application being approved by the planning board and negotiation of contributions through a legal agreement.”