CONTROVERSIAL plans to upgrade Stewartfield Way in East Kilbride have passed the latest hurdle.

Councillors last week approved an augmented strategic business case for the £62.2 million project by 17 votes to 11.

However, council leader John Ross (Hamilton South) warned that city deal funding could be lost if they didn’t approve the next steps as “other authorities are looking over our shoulders” and are “only happy to see South Lanarkshire fail”.

Executive director for community and enterprise Michael McGlynn outlined to the executive committee changes to the project from the original plans to dual the full length of the road.

Following an “extensive consultation” in November and December 2019, a dedicated cycleway and walkway along the northern side of Stewartfield Way will be considered to enhance the active travel network and feed into planned improvements on the East Kilbride railway line.

Enhanced bus infrastructure along Stewartfield Way and beyond has also been included in a bid to reduce congestion.

Plans to manage existing congestion at Philipshil and around Kingsgate and Mavor Avenue include a new dual carriageway from The James Hamilton Heritage Loch east towards Kingsgate and increasing capacity at junctions.

Mr McGlynn said: “It was agreed to progress and review the augmentation of the previously agreed strategic business case.

“The augmentation was to reflect the design development and, to some extent, the passage of time.

“A review for the detailed economic drivers will be undertaken as part of the outline business case which is the next stage.

“Further work is required to detail the project design and specification in terms of economic outputs. Those details will come through the outline business case.”

East Kilbride West councillor Monique McAdams was concerned that only dualing part of Stewartfield Way could lead to a traffic congestion in the middle of the route.

She said: “In my opinion it will lead to a bottle neck in the middle, so you’ll then have your locked grid right in the middle of Stewartfield.

“There has already been a considerable amount of time that has been spent on this project but I don’t believe this proposal is clear enough or delivers what’s required.

“I am supportive of the dualling of all of Stewartfield Way as it was originally presented.

“The original proposal was about taking heavy traffic away from the residential streets and putting it into the periphery of East Kilbride.”

East Kilbride East councillor Jim Wardhaugh was “not convinced” the proposals would “make a great difference to east-west travel in East Kilbride” without a flyover at Kingsgate.

However, Mr McGlynn said there was “a change in thought process” and that the council needed to be more proactive in encouraging people off the roads and onto public and active transport.

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Robert Brown (Rutherglen South) was “not persuaded it is in the best interests of East Kilbride” while Labour group leader Cllr Joe Fagan (East Kilbride Central North) felt the report “didn’t give the detail wanted”.

Conservative group leader Cllr Alex Allison (Clydesdale East) saw the strategic business cases as “a step forward in addressing a number of issues”.

He was also supportive of independent councillor David Watson (East Kilbride West) who is only a substitute member of the committee and had submitted a consultation pro forma prior to the meeting in order to ensure his concerns were heard.

Cllr Watson asked officers if post-pandemic work and travel patterns had been considered, if allowances had been made for the relocation of the tax office and what discussions had been held with SPT and bus operators regarding improvements to bus infrastructure.

In response, Mr McGlynn said: “It is important to look beyond the immediate horizon and make plans that ensure the transport network is capable in the long term of accommodating increasing demands resulting from new development and increased freight movement, and that opportunities for genuine sustainable travel choices are maximised.

“The primary rationale for the project is to support net additional economic value through investment and site development that is currently constrained by the transport network.

“The council are in regular dialogue with bus operators and SPT via variety of forums and will have more focused discussion with them over the next 12 months to explain the proposals.”