A new petition urging Stirling Council to rethink the controversial Viewforth Link Road has gathered more than 400 signatures in less than a week
Lead petitioner Dr Niall Hamilton-Smith is asking Stirling Council to ‘Pause Viewforth Link Road for reconsideration and community consultation’.
The petition is the first to appear on a new community engagement platform launched by Stirling Council last December and, as of Wednesday morning, February 3, 435 people had already backed the bid.
The VLR was narrowly approved by the council’s planning panel in 2019 despite 166 objections, including from King’s Park and Braehead and Broomridge Community Councils. The scheme will see 31 trees removed - 28 within the Conservation Area.
The new route will run through Viewforth between the St Ninians Road junction with Snowdon Place and the Linden Avenue roundabout near Waitrose and will create an inner city ring road which council officials claim would help reduce unnecessary traffic in the city centre and become a vital component of a wider transport strategy for Stirling.
Campaigners, however, want the budget-busting new link road scrapped, describing it as a waste of taxpayers’ money - particularly during the Covid pandemic.
Planning permission was approved in 2019 and budget has been provisionally allocated within the capital programme for 2021 while also Stirling Council recently re-launched its Big Budget Conversation asking Stirling residents to help with setting next year’s budget to meet an £8 million funding gap.
The petition says: “The VLR is a multi-million pound road expansion scheme, projected to increase traffic, carbon emissions, noise and air pollution in the city centre and local communities. It will involve the felling of mature trees which are part of the city’s heritage.
“This petition asks Stirling Council to reconsider the significant expenditure on the VLR, following the declaration of a Climate and Ecological Emergency and in light of the Covid challenges.”
One petitioner said: “Stirling city centre regeneration should be the focus for the council’s efforts as well as joined-up cycle and walking routes. There is little need for additional roads that will only encourage more car use. COP 26 will be in Glasgow soon and Stirling should set an example of climate awareness.”
“The council claims that the road brings new walking and cycling routes, but these could be achieved at much less cost without building a road. Circumstances have changed since it was first planned and the council should pause and think about current priorities.”
Another added: “This project is both damaging to the historic environment of the area and the people who live near it and it is a waste of money when so many more pressing concerns like poverty and inequality require attention.”
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A Stirling Council spokesperson said: “This petition is currently open on our e-petition platform.
“As part of the work associated with the project, the council is preparing to open up an engagement process with the community on proposals for how to improve walking, wheeling and cycling easier at the Snowdon Place/St Ninians Road junction and the Linden Avenue roundabout.
“The draft consultation material was temporarily made live on the Engage Stirling site for a brief period before its official launch.
“Any comments we received have not been deleted and will be there when the pages are published in due course.”
The petition can be found at: //engage.stirling.gov.uk/en-GB/initiatives/viewforth-link-road-a-pause-for-reconsideration-community-consultation
