Glasgow Metro cannot ‘distract’ from climate targets, warn campaigners

Scotland’s leading environmental campaigning organisation has welcomed proposals for a Metro system in Glasgow, but says more changes are needed in the short-term to make the city ‘greener’.

Transport Scotland has laid out its plans for a ‘mass transit system’ in Glasgow, which could include trams, bus rapid transit and light rail.

Recommendations in the first phase of its Strategic Transport Projects Review were published on Wednesday, with a 20-year vision outlined for Scotland’s transport infrastructure.

Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoE) has welcomed the proposal, which aims to boost ‘green travel’ as part of Scotland’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Gavin Thomson from the organisation says smaller changes need to be made now in order to meet climate targets.

In an interview with the Glasgow Standard, he said: “These long-term projects are great but they shouldn’t distract us from what we can do today.

“A Metro system is a great project to be thinking about but it’s not going to decarbonise our transport network any time soon.

“It can’t take the place of changes we need to make now in restricting car use and moving people to walking, cycling and public transport.”

The Metro plans would see increased connectivity between Glasgow and the immediate surrounding areas in East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire.

In addition, Glasgow City Council has set a target to be carbon-neutral by 2030, and has welcomed the proposals for a Metro system in the city.

Glasgow City Council leader, Susan Aitken, said: “The report not only makes clear the pressing economic, environmental and social case for a much better-connected city and region, it also shows the potential of the Metro project to deliver that transformation.

“While it wasn’t in our minds when the concept was first developed, I’m also confident that further evaluation and development of the Metro project will show it has serious potential to push forward our long-term local and national recovery, post-pandemic.”

During the coronavirus crisis, the city council freed up public space in and around Glasgow as part of the “Spaces for People” initiative, to allow more room for physical distancing.

FoE believes these sorts of projects should be prioritised short-term to ensure the 2030 target is met.

Mr Thomson said: “I think a risk of something like the Metro system – which I definitely think should happen – is that it is used as an excuse or a diversionary tactic from these lower-cost but sometimes more politically-difficult things that need to happen right away.

“For example, people will kick off if you take away parking spaces; there is some backlash.

“But that needs to happen now and not just talking about a very impressive expensive piece of infrastructure which won’t be up and running until the 2030’s, by which time, various climate targets will have been missed.”

The Scottish Government plans to have net-zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045, with Glasgow also hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2021 (COP26) later this year.

Mr Thomson said: “We’ve made huge inroads in some other areas – energy generation being a big one – but we haven’t done much at all to clean up transport since 1990.

“With COP26 coming up as well, we need to be pushing for decarbonisation measures for when Glasgow’s on the world stage, so that we have things to be proud of.”

Transport Secretary, Michael Matheson, said: “As we continue to navigate our way through an unprecedented global health emergency, the investment decisions we make have never been so important.

“We want to lock in the changes to the healthy, green travel options we’ve seen during the pandemic, while supporting interventions that will aid and help accelerate economic recovery.”

Fraser Nicoll