10.16 Drumchapel is located in the north-west of the City, between Bearsden in the north and the A82 in the south. It was constructed in the 1950s and 1960s as a socially rented housing area north and west of Drumchapel village. Since 1971, when its population peaked at 34,000, the area has experienced population decline and the loss of major employers.

10.17 The fabric of the Town Centre, together with its retail occupancy level, has declined and there are large areas of under-utilised land, unmanaged open space and vacant land created by housing demolition. The network of open spaces and parkland lacks adequate care and maintenance in some places and local topography has resulted in some neighbourhoods being isolated from the Town Centre and other facilities.

10.18 Vacant sites present important development opportunities. The physical environment has already improved in places through housing renewal by housing associations, co-operatives, Communities Scotland, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, Glasgow City Council and the private sector. In particular, this has regenerated parts of Pinewood, Kingsridge, Cleddans and Southdeen, stabilising communities and injecting confidence in the continued transformation of Drumchapel’s environment. The Council has worked with both the Drumchapel Environment Trust and the Kilpatricks Project to improve access to, and understanding and care of, the adjacent greenspace and countryside.

New Housing

10.19 The Scottish Executive established a Drumchapel SIP in January 1999 and Drumchapel is one of the Glasgow Alliance and City Council’s New Neighbourhoods. The challenge for the future is to establish Drumchapel as a desirable residential suburb comprising a number of distinct, attractive neighbourhoods that provide housing choice, supported by appropriate community and business infrastructure.