EcoWarriorMe

The Broomielaw and the Tradeston Footbridge A long time ago, spring 2009 to be precise, Stephen Purcell, the leader of Glasgow City Council formally opened the Tradeston footbridge over the River Clyde from the Broomielaw on the North bank to Tradeston.  The new bridge formed the focus of a £33 million regeneration scheme for the area which involved strengthening existing quays walls to create an attractive public space. But not for long. At the opening Purcell said: “The Tradeston Bridge and the wider scheme to develop new public places will act as a catalyst for future regeneration of the Tradeston area.  It is important that the public purse continues to invest in the city’s infrastructure at this difficult time to bolster Glasgow’s economy and pave the way for future development along the Clyde waterfront.” This is where the conflict seems to come in: creating public spaces and bolstering the economy no longer appear compatible.

How the mighty have fallen - Mature tree in Pollok Park destroyed in December storms It has been fairly windy in Scotland over the past year. Back in May , unseasonable storms battered the country causing one fatality, power outages, travel disruption, damage to crops  and felling many trees.  We do not normally have such high winds during the spring and summer when the trees are in full leaf so they were more susceptible to damage and many mature trees were lost. The next big storm was in September when the tail end of Hurricane Katia brought heavy rain, flooding and more trees down. It was not nearly as severe as Huricane Irene that struck the north east US a couple of weeks earlier but it still caused at least one fatality and significant disruption. A relatively calm and mild but wet autumn followed as local government prepared for heavy snow like that which caught them out last year. Then came hurricane force winds on the 8th of December . They had been forecast a few