19/09/2026
Absolutely brilliant news about all the improvements coming our way 🙌
Cllr Dan Hutchison in Govan: Neighbourhood Infrastructure Fund
At long last, the £1million Neighbourhood Infrastructure Fund is allocated and here’s a run down of everything it’s being spent on.
Dan Hutchison
Sep 19
Neighbourhood Infrastructure Fund
Trim Trail (£10,000)
The beloved Trim Trail (basically a kids outdoor obstacle course) next to Pirie Park School is to be redeveloped and upgraded over this winter.
Road Resurfacing (£122,000)
The road surface on Govan Road between Orkney Street and 788 Govan Road and between Water Row to Constantive Lane (the path into Govan Old) will be resurfaced. This is due to be completed by the end of November this year.
Improved Lighting at Shieldhall underpass (£41,200)
This improvement is to get some decent lighting in the underpass to the hospital from Skipness Drive. It’s been out for a contractor so all things going well, the work should start soon on this.
Improve Play Area and MUGA pitch at Clyde Hall (£106,000)
If you’ve been round the back of Clyde Hall in the last few years, you’ll know how much this funding was needed. There’s £66,000 going to redo the play area that’s in a very sorry state. £40,000 is going to redo the MUGA (which stands for Multi-Use Games Area, basically the football pitch with basketball hoops). This one is going through the council process and should be going out for a contractor around Christmas time.
Clyde Hall Play Park
Mural above the Bellrock (£10,000)
I get a lot of complaints about random football graffiti but none more than the tag on this gable end. Kinning Park Community Council have led the charge in getting this funding allocated and are working with a local artist to design something to fill the space so keep your eyes on the wall for its completion.
Festival Lights (£58,000)
Every year the Christmas Tree at Govan Cross looks bleaker and bleaker but this year that should be changing! We’ve used some of the funding to buy some decorations for the lighting columns, get the fixtures put in and order a large ground mounted decoration. The funding allows this to run for three years and we’re hoping to get some local business funding to help this become a permanent fixture in future. The big switch on will be the 2nd of December at 6pm.
CCTV (£8,515.41)
Two new CCTV units were installed in 2023 on Paisley Road West to tackle the fly-tipping that was making the street exceptionally dirty. An additional unit was installed on George V Bridge to help with police deal with people dealing with acute mental health crisis at the Clyde.
Lendel Place Bollards (£9,600.82)
15 concrete bollards and 4 plastic bollards at the corner of Lendel Place and Paisley Road West to stop the pavement parking there. These went in a few years ago and are still doing their job.
Fifty Pitches Dog Park (£32,000)
Another project that’s been driven by a community council - this time by Drumoyne Community Council. The desire is to build a secure place to let dogs off much the same as exists in Bellahouston Park. Works are already underway and should be completed in the next month or so.
Benches throughout Cessnock and Kinning Park (£6,800)
Hopefully you’ve noticed the new benches up Paisley Road West, this is where it was funded from.
Elder Park Play Park (£190,000)
This funding was to top up existing funding so the new playpark is going to be just north of quarter of a million pounds and will have accessible play spaces for children with disabilities including those utilising wheelchairs. The council has going through a consultation process earlier this year to find out what parents and kids want to see here. The procurement for this is ongoing but play parks seem to take an inordinate length of time to build so no promises on when this will actually be completed.
Plantation Park Play Park (£100,000)
Another playpark which is getting a big top up to their funding. It’s also gone through the same consultation process and is in the procurement pipeline.
Plantation Square Play Park (£150,000)
And another playpark! This one is a bit further behind in the process so will likely be the last thing to be completed but will include accessible play spaces for kids with disabilities including those in wheelchairs.
New Elder Park Lighting (£16,000)
There will be 4 new lighting columns going up around the pond in Elder Park to improve the lighting in the park. This has just been signed off so might be a few months before we get some progress but it’ll happen.
Seating Shelter at Park Villa Sports Hub (£28,500)
There are four new shelters with seats going in at the side of the pitches at Park Villa so parents and carers can watch their kids playing football without getting drenched. They should be going in anytime now (they could even have gone in already, I haven’t been in to check recently).
Cessnock Subway Greenspace (£5,000)
Another one that’s just been approved so won’t be in quick but some planting for the exterior of Cessnock Subway and a bench at the top of the steps.
Tree Planting (the remainder)
The rest of the money is going on getting new trees planted. Govan is the area of the city with the lowest canopy cover and we know from research that the higher the cover of trees, the less we are impacted from flooding, the lower the air pollution is and the cooler streets stay in summer as well as it looking much more colourful. So the decision was any money not allocated will go toward getting trees planted. If you have an idea of where you’d want a tree put - please drop me an e-mail at [email protected] and I’ll pass it to the department.
Hopefully as these improvements are all put in you start to notice them but I know the list was long with hundreds of suggestions of improvements in every corner of the ward. If there’s any specific things that you want to see improved, there’s always another channel for finding funding for it so please come along to a surgery or community council and tell us what you want to see.
Cllr Ricky Bell. A voice for Govan Ibrox and Cessnock Community Council The Kensington Bar Kinning Park Community Council Kinning Park Complex Govan Community Council Sunny Govan Community Radio Govan East Community Council Drumoyne Community Council https://daningovan.substack.com/p/dan-in-govan-neighbourhood-infrastructure?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F921711a7-cd1f-4208-8b6c-0e70a5f9a2d3_2268x4032.jpeg&open=false
