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While the legal challenge to the proposed M74 extension collapsed ignominiously last month on obtuse legal grounds, no one should doubt for a minute that the scheme to bring five miles of mostly elevated concrete and tarmac across southeast Glasgow will fail to deliver, as one campaigner outlines.
he lact tlial the planned M74 was neyer
intended to stop at (ilasgow‘s l'ullerton Road
is irrclcyant in lello. Today. we all know what planners 4t) years ago did not: more road space iii urban areas doesn‘t reduce congestion. lt contributes to the phenomenon by enticing more people into their cars. l’rogi'cssiyc cities elsewhere hayc taken down motorways and seen the beiicl‘its.ll' this road was destined to run through the West l.nd. it would hayc been dropped a long time ago. But the liast lind and Sotllllsidc districts such as 'l‘oi‘y'glcti or (itiVillllllll with a sadly diseiilranchised. economically repressed and un—inlluential population are easy prey.
The people who live along the route will bcnelit the least and sul'l‘er most l‘rom the M74 northern extension. This is why the legal challenge was brought. The establishment carps about the additional costs it caused by putting back the start date ol construction and increasing the roadway‘s price tag by some L‘leM. But what about the delay caused by the Scottish lixecutiye itsell' alter the public inquiry which advised on multiple grounds to drop the schemc'.’
The inquiry reporters turned in their lindings and conclusions in July 2004 and the lixeciitiye withheld them from the public until 24 March 2005 7 more than one year alter the exhaustiye public hearings were completed. How much did that hold-tip cost'.’
Yes. the land on the proposed M74 route is blighted today and is. in places. highly contaminated with chromium waste. But the M74 planning contributed to these conditions It the goal was to rejuy'enate these properties. that could llitVL‘ happened years ago
except that the motorway became a holy shibboleth l‘or big business and big goyeriiment.
The sad reality is that iiiycstment and creation ol
local jobs haye been suppressed because ol plans for the motorway. as well. The inquiry exposed that the job creation ligures the promoters of the motorway had been trotting out are disingenuous: any
employment created will come at the expense ol
other areas in Scotland. liriends ol' the liarth Scotland has shown that thousands ol jobs and businesses forcibly uprooted l'rom the route ol' the proposed
motorway liaye been remoyed l‘rom an area ol
(ilasgow‘ that desperately needs Cttiploylticnl.
And a similar shell game applies to the notion that the M74 northern extension will somehow make local streets less congested. .-\ny tral‘l'ic diy'erted l‘rom boulevards such as Rutherglen's Main Street will be matched. and perhaps even topped. by traffic on new
10 THE LIST .‘tl .Jiil 3 Aug .Xltiti
m CREATED WILL COPE AT TI'E EXPENSE OF OTHER AREAS OF SCOTLAND
l'ecder routes to the proposed motorway at ('aiiibuslang and l’oliiiadie roads. l'oi‘ instance. We are
just displacing the congestion. not reliey iiig it.
()yct‘all pollution leyels and (‘0) emissions will increase thanks to the proposed motorway. The speed at which \ehicles tray cl is a red herring and needs to be dropped li'oiii the debate. l’astei‘-iiio\ ing cars don't pollute less (indeed. the projections are that the proposed motorway will stiller l‘rom slowdowns at peak times anyway l. Studies in the [S haye highlighted that anyone liy‘ing. working or playing near American lreeways are particularly \‘lllllL‘l‘ilthI increased incidents ol' asthma. heart problems. low birth weights. premature births and stroke haye all
been measured. In (ilasgow. some ol
the worst areas l'oi' air pollution are near the MS and streets leading to it.
The reason why people in (ilasgow and across Scotland increasingly don't l'ayour the M74 northern extension is simple. The £375in to BMW that it is projected to cost should be spent elsewhere. whether iiiiproying public transport. cleaning tip our post- industrial landscapes. shoring tip the health system or supporting better schools.
But. as with so many issues ot' the day whether ll) cards and ciyil liberties. oyerscas wars or nuclear weapons and atomic energy one can win the debate coiiiprehensiyely and still see the decision go the opposite way.
Capercaillie and friends will play a benefit concert for Friends of the Earth on Friday 28 July at ABC Glasgow. Tickets (£15/subject to booking fee) are available from ABC box office (www.abcg|asgow.com) or from Ticket Web (www.ticketweb.co.uk).
PlUCKING FRUITS FROM THE CULTURAL BUSH
I Is nothing sacred anymore? Who'd have thought that hoary old rock legend Bob Dylan would let his songs appear in a Broadway musical? In lhe [lines They Are A Chang/ri' a handful of his classics form the soundtrack to the slow of a young man's relationship with a demanding father and a beautiful Circus performer . . The Modlather himself. Paul Weller (pictured). is set to play Glasgow's Barrowlarid in November. while the exuberant Wayne Coyne and The Flaming Lips wrll play the SECC the same month . Robert Downey Jr is putting pen to paper to write his autobiography. The actor has never shied away from talking about his drug-related otterices so this should make for that rarest of things: a celebrity autobiography that actually gets down and dirty . . Acclaimed character actor William H Macy is to step behind the camera to direct. Keep Coming Back. Salma Hayek is set to star . . . On a more drsappornting note. [VI/:3 star Michelle Monaghan ioms Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Stiller in The Farelly Brothers' remake of The Heartbreak Kid, entitled. familiarly encugh, The Seven Year Itch . . . Making up for this news is the pairing of the laconic Vince Vaughn with Sideways star, Paul Giamatti in Joe Claus, tne story of Santa Claus' screwed-up younger brother . . . Proving that you can srgn with major labels and still have artistic integrity, Philly hip-hop crew The Roots are releasing new album. Game TheOry in August through Def Jam. but that hasn't stopped them including an eight-minute long tribute to the late J Dilla. Prog hip hop anyone?
(Andrew Borthwick)