Kirkintilloch Link road on journey to completion

3 Apr 2006

A move to speed up progress on the proposed Kirkintilloch Link Road has been given the green light this week as East Dunbartonshire Council has agreed to help Kirkintilloch’s Initiative (KI) acquire the land needed for the project.

Kirkintilloch’s Initiative (KI) has been consulting widely with a number of landowners over buying the land. The majority of this land has been successfully acquired and is in the ownership of KI but a few negotiations have not been fully agreed.

To minimise delays to the development of the link road East Dunbartonshire Council will now issue a Compulsory Purchase Order to buy the remaining land.

The Kirkintilloch Link Road is one of the flagship projects of KI and is central to the delivery of the £56 million regeneration scheme for the town. It’s part of a wider transport improvement masterplan and will deliver a number of benefits including:

• Reducing traffic through the busy residential areas in Lenzie and Kirkintilloch improving the environment and making the area safer for schoolchildren and local people
• Improving accessibility for local businesses based in Woodilee, Southbank and throughout the town
• Allowing around 800 homes to be built at the former Woodilee hospital site, which will be connected to Kirkintilloch and the motorway
• Creating a significant number of jobs during the construction phase with spin-off benefits afterwards

Commenting on the move, Duncan Hamilton, Project Director for KI said:
“We have worked hard to speak to all of the owners and are pleased to have secured so much of the land through agreements. We are disappointed that we have not been able to resolve all of our negotiations this way and have had to take this action to ensure that land acquisition does not delay delivery of the Link Road”

“The town has waited a long time for this road and we don’t want to experience anymore delays to the process.”

Design work on the Link Road is progressing and discussions have been taking place between representatives of East Dunbartonshire Council and North Lanarkshire Council over issues such as traffic management, design standards and the necessary statutory processes.

Once all of the land is in KI’s ownership and the statutory consents are in place construction on the road will be able to begin.