Lighting is finally set to be installed in three Glasgow parks more than a year after the issue was first raised - with new concerns over how long the work will take.
Three workshops are to be held – in Kelvingrove Park, Queen’s Park and Cranhill Park – to decide the best way to put up lights.
This prompted the councillor who first brought the matter forward to warn it could be over two years before lighting is actually installed.
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Councillors agreed in December last year that officials should report back on the “necessary infrastructure to provide sensitive lighting solutions in our parks”.
That motion was passed after the issue came to the fore during COP26, when campaigners called for lighting to be rolled out as residents were forced to walk through Kelvingrove Park late at night due to a police diversion.
Council officials have said the three workshops, set to take place between December 5 and 12, will lead to an action plan. It is expected to identify the “extent and location of any routes to be lit” as well as their power source.
However, Cllr Jill Brown, Labour, who brought the issue to a full council meeting last year, has raised concerns over the timescale for the installation of lights and the lack of funding.
The workshops will be open to invitees from pilot sessions held in the parks over October and November. These include Violence Against Women Partnership, Police Scotland, Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, biodiversity and equalities groups
Officials have also held talks with researchers at Glasgow University on potential research to “conduct measurements of biodiversity and animal behaviour pre and post pilot work at those three parks”. A further report will be provided to councillors in April.
The pilot events in recent months were held in the evening as officials wanted attendees to “use their daytime knowledge and directly experience conditions in the dark so they could use both to provide informed ideas rather than thinking in the abstract”.
A survey has also been carried out by residents and stakeholders, including equalities groups, with 379 respondents for Kelvingrove Park, 345 for Queen’s Park and 81 in Cranhill Park.
Kelvingrove Park has the higher proportion of users using the park at dusk (83%) and darkness (53%). For Kelvingrove, 33% said they felt unsafe at dusk, with 68% feeling unsafe during darkness hours. One in five respondents said they do not visit the park during dawn (19%) or the hours of darkness (18%).
Cllr Jill Brown, Labour, said the report had been “long awaited”. “If 86% of the respondents either don’t go to a park after it’s dark or they don’t feel safe in a park after it’s dark, then there is absolutely evidence that there is a need to change the park,” she added. “Lighting is obviously one of those routes to do so.”
Speaking at an environment committee meeting, she added: “The timetable that you set out here doesn’t actually start until at the earliest five months' time, which I think then is 25 months, which is just over two years.
“We’re just coming to the first anniversary [of the motion] so that would be over three years before we have any likelihood of having any lighting in Kelvingrove Park.”
In response, Cllr Elaine McSporran, who chaired the environment committee, said: “Our officers are working quite closely with the police and community groups to ensure that where the lighting goes it is safe for all users and that it doesn’t increase any anti-social behaviour.”
An official added: “I think I would highlight from the questionnaires that whilst there was around 80% support for additional lighting as a measure, around 60% of respondents indicated they had concerns about biodiversity, sustainability or the financial impact on the council.
“For that reason, the timescales set out here do allow for a full investigation of innovative lighting solutions that are using best practice. An off the shelf solution would have been a very different timescale.
“The very clear steer we had from the consultation process, and from this committee, was to seek out best practice and innovative solutions, and that’s reflected in the timescales in front of us.”
An official also said the upcoming workshops will determine the lighting required and the costs, then funding would be pursued.
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