Green in Govan: Clyde Tunnel Tax, Anti-social Parking

Newsletter #22 - This week I'm covering the recent chats about a tax on the Clyde Tunnel, discussing Anti-social parking, and encouraging you to respond to the Connecting Greater Govan consultation.

Mar 11, 2025

Taxing the Clyde Tunnel

You may have seen some newspaper reporting about putting a tax on the Clyde Tunnel and I think it’s going to be a big conversation over the next few years so I’ll take you through the legal position, my concerns and the benefits and as an exciting new feature to the newsletter - there’s a poll at the end!

The maintenance of the Clyde Tunnel is solely the responsibility of Glasgow City Council and as an old piece of infrastructure, it’s an expensive old tunnel! The main gripe that councillors have had for a long time is that unlike the Erskine Bridge and the Kingston Bridge which are the other two major crossings over the Clyde, the Scottish Government don’t acknowledge this as a piece of major infrastructure. Which means they don’t fund it’s upkeep and all the money needs to come from the councils budget. Even though the tunnel has roughly double the daily traffic to that of the Erskine Bridge. It also means that the bill is footed by the people of Glasgow and only by the people of Glasgow. Those who live in neighbouring local authorities don’t contribute at all to it. Suggestions have been made that anyone who isn’t a resident in the Glasgow City Council boundary should also contribute via a road user charging scheme.

Legally, we don’t believe we have the powers to add a toll at the moment anyway. There are provisions in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 which would allow charging for the stretch of road however when the SNP came into government in 2007 and scrapped tolls on bridges, the sections that were repealed to allow that are the sections that would need to be reintroduced to put a toll on the tunnel. This isn’t particularly difficult to do but is in the hands of the Scottish Government.1

As a Green, it’s probably not a surprise that I’m not against adding a toll on roads, however, I am a bit concerned about this particular road being where we start. The largest hospital in the country being at one side which employs 40,000 people and will likely form the core of these payments. I know that often when people think about people working in hospitals they think of doctors and surgeons and their massive salaries. But the majority of staff in the hospital aren’t highly paid, they’re nurses, porters, auxiliaries and cleaners and introducing a toll on those who already work in such an important and difficult place for the benefit of the people doesn’t sit right with me.

My ideal outcome is that the Scottish Government recognise the strategic importance of the tunnel as the third busiest river crossing infrastructure in Scotland and take on its upkeep but this has been argued for a long time. It’s not happened yet and I can’t see it happening soon.

Anti-Social Parking

The council seem to, at long, long last, be ready to start taking enforcement action on those parking on the pavements, double parking and parking over dropped kerbs. An issue that I receive near endless complaints about across Govan. I’ve gone through the ins and outs of this a few times in previous issues but since enforcement is starting any day now, I wanted to share the details of how to request enforcement in any particular area.

Request Enforcement in your Area

Connecting Greater Govan

The road, cycle path and public realm improvements that are out for consultation just now cover the following:

Skipness Drive (north), Moss Road, Peninver Drive, Burghead Place
Skipness Drive (south), traffic-free path adjacent to A739
Tormore Street, Berryknowes Road
Langlands Road, Harmony Row, Burleigh Street, Water Row
Arklet Road, Nimmo Drive, Craigton Road, Jura Street
Dumbreck Road

And you’ve got until the 30th March to respond!

See the plans and have your say!

Surgeries

I run advice and support surgeries 3 times a month, you don’t need an appointment, just turn up! Next dates are:

Tuesday 11th March - 4pm - Maslows Community Hub, Shaw Street
Thursday 20th March - 5pm - Kinning Park Complex, Cornwall Street
Friday 28th March - 11am - Clyde Community Hall, Whitefield Road

Upcoming Community Councils

Kinning Park - Kinning Park Complex - 17th March - 7pm
Govan East - Riverside Hall - 18th March - 6pm
Ibrox and Cessnock - Clyde Community Hall - 19th March - 7pm
Drumoyne - Govan High - 20th March - 7pm
Govan - Pearce Institute - 7th April - 7pm

These are all public meetings so you can just turn up at your relevant one. They’d all be very happy for someone new to join in! I’m aim to attend at many of them as possible so hopefully see you there!

Till next time,

Dan

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer but this is my understanding.