Yesterday saw the official close of stage 1 of the submission process in which residents were invited to comment on the proposals. These proposals were detailed in our previous post below dated 8th July, 2025.

Today we can set out the exact text of our official submission to Glasgow City Council on this matter.

Due to the last minute decision by Glasgow City Council to include parts of Kelvindale within a plan that had, for the previous 2 years, been solely about and titled “The Kirklee RPZ.” – the whole perspective of resident consultation has been skewed. We therefore have to clarify that the comments in our official submission below have been made with regard to the impact of the proposals as they affect the residents of Kelvindale. The area known as “Kirklee” is the responsibility of The Dowanhill, Hyndland and Kelvinside Community Council, who, we believe, will have made their own independent submission.

OUR SUBMISSION READS AS FOLLOWS –

KELVINSIDE & KELVINDALE AREA PARKING CONTROLS
Submission by Kelvindale Community Council.

Kelvindale Community Council (KCC) objects strongly to the inclusion of any
part of Kelvindale within the proposed RPZ. KCC respectfully asks that the
areas of Kelvindale contained within the proposal are removed.

Community Engagement: KCC has only had the opportunity to recently engage in
the process. It is acknowledged that KCC were asked to engage with the Council
and other stakeholders at an event about the KIRKLEE RPZ in June 2024.
However, at that time, the RPZ proposal was misleadingly named ‘Kirklee’, and,
therefore, taken at face value, did not appear to apply to Kelvindale with no plan
being offered for consideration in advance of the meeting. At that time KCC had no
members available to engage in the process at the time due to holiday and other
commitments. Given that the RPZ focus was on the Kirklee area, it was felt that the
relevance for Kelvindale was very limited.

Dowanhill, Hyndland & Kelvinside Community Council (DHKCC) are understood to
have driven the current RPZ process following the establishment of the North Kelvin
RPZ. The perceived effect of the North Kelvin RPZ has been to move a significant
proportion of the parking demand from North Kelvin in to adjoining areas, with the
Kirklee Road area bearing a considerable amount of additional parking as a
consequence. It is understood that there is a large degree of support within the
DHKCC area for a proposed RPZ to cover the areas affected by the overspill from
North Kelvin, and, quite rightly, the local CC has been proactive in seeking the
implementation of an RPZ in their area.

KCC understands that some parts of Kelvindale have been proposed for inclusion
within the current RPZ proposals to cater for an anticipated overspill of parking from
the Kirklee area. Letters inviting Kelvindale residents in the affected areas to
participate in an online survey to give their views on the proposals have now been
received. This consultation, begun on 30 June, runs to 18 August 2025 only. That is
over the school holiday period when many residents will be away with the result that
survey responses are likely to be lower than otherwise would be the case. KCC
understands that our Elected Members have collectively written to NRS to ask that
the consultation period be extended. KCC also asks for the consultation period to be
extended to ensure that residents are given a decent length of time in which to
consider the proposals and make their views known.

KCC has itself consulted widely within its own community and the views expressed
in this submission are heavily supported by the affected areas such as
Balcarres/Bradfield/Hopefield/Thornbridge Avenues, and in Beaconsfield Road and
within St Johns Renfield Church.

Kelvindale Community Council sees no evidence produced to suggest that
there will be ‘overspill’ parking generated from the ‘core’ RPZ area to justify the proposed extension of the RPZ to cover
Balcarres/Bradfield/Hopefield/Thornbridge Avenues

The evidence from the Parking Surveys carried out in Spring 2023 demonstrate that
there are no parking pressures in these Avenues either during the day or at night
time. Recent photographic surveys have continued to demonstrate that there is
always significant free capacity available for car parking in this area. These areas
are also very remote from the areas of likely pressure within the ‘core’ area and it is
considered it will be extremely unlikely that displaced car users or commuters will
adopt this area for parking.

Kelvindale Community Council seeks the deletion of the Beaconsfield Road
area from the RPZ until further and more detailed consideration is given to the
impact of a wider study assessing the effect of Gartnavel Hospital parking on
its surrounding area.

There is some pressure on non-resident parking in this area during the day time, but
it is unrelated to the pressures impacting on the Kirklee area. Parking pressure in
Beaconsfield Road arises mainly from overspill car parking from Gartnavel Hospital.
As a Community Council, we are aware that other parts of Kelvindale suffer from this
overspill parking, such as Leicester Avenue, Weymouth Drive and Chesterfield
Avenue. It is also apparent that the Claythorn area is also impacted by overspill
parking (e.g. Whittinghame and Hatfield Drives). The question of whether
Beaconsfield Road requires a Restricted Parking Zone should be given proper
consideration with a separate, wider study that includes all the areas impacted by
Gartnavel Hospital overspill parking related to workers and visitors.

Kelvindale Community Council seeks the deletion of the Beaconsfield Road
area from the RPZ until further and more detailed consideration is given to the
impact that restricted parking would have on the wide range of social activities
based around St Johns Renfield Church.

Social Impact of a Beaconsfield Road RPZ: No consideration has been given to
the activities attached to St Johns Renfield Church. The Church is the base for
many of the social and cultural activities of the Kelvindale area and many of the
users…the elderly, mothers and children…often need to use their cars to park
nearby. Adding a potential cost for parking will make many of these activities
unsustainable, to the detriment of the wider Kelvindale community. Church officials
and officials of the various clubs and societies that use the Church as their base
have already made strong substantive submissions to the consultation. Many raise
the real prospect of the effect on the volunteer brigade who are instrumental to the
effectiveness of the Church and its associated clubs and societies. Adding
significant parking costs to the time that they already give up for free is highly likely
to be detrimental to the future running and possibly survival of these key social
functions.

Kelvindale has very limited public transport provision, nor does public transport
provide effective penetration into the district. There are only two local bus services
which operate solely on an hourly basis and also don’t operate after 6pm. Whilst
Great Western Road is better served, the topography of Kelvindale is not conducive to helping those of limited mobility to make full use of the bus services. Similarly,
Kelvindale Station is also impacted by topography, and similarly only a very limited
service is available to prospective rail users of this station.

Special consideration is being proposed for Kelvinside Academy by the inclusion of
bus-parking bays during school hours and outside to enable the school to fulfil its
curricular activities and the transport of pupils to and from school in the morning and
evening. It is evident that the school has been given considerable attention
throughout the design process to address its particular requirements. No such
provision appears to be offered to Cleveden Secondary School which has similar
issues.

Similar attention needs to be afforded to the Church and its various organisations to
take account of their special requirements, rather than having the RPZ provisions
imposed without proper consideration given to the Church’s worship needs and the
associated organisations requirements.

Kelvindale Community Council objects strongly to the proposal for restricted
parking being applied until 10pm in the evening.

KCC considers that the proposed application of parking controls between the hours
of 8am and 10pm is completely unnecessary. The evidence of the Parking Surveys
does not show any streets within the Kelvindale area , and rarely within the ‘core’
area, as being at their capacity during the nighttime period. There is no justification
for applying parking controls for such a length of time. With no public transport
alternatives available after 6pm, any visitors will only be able to travel by car and
therefore face the prospect of the considerable expense of the proposed parking
charges.

ON THE ABOVE GROUNDS, KELVINDALE COMMUNITY COUNCIL
RESPECTFULLY ASKS THAT THE AREAS OF KELVINDALE CONTAINED
WITHIN THE KELVINSIDE/KELVINDALE RPZ PROPOSALS ARE REMOVED.

Kelvindale Community Council. 18th August, 2025.