GLASGOW’S planned crackdown on cars over the next 30 years will not be practical for residents, it has been argued.

The city’s vision for 2050 was revealed last week and includes cutting the number of cars by 50 per cent – with a 30 per cent target set for 2030.

But a frustrated community councillor has warned the city council about the proposal’s impact on workers travelling into the city and residents in surrounding areas.

Patricia Ingram, of Hutchesontown Community Council, said: “Let’s be realistic, we’re not mining villages. We have to travel to work. It is not practical for everyone to use a bike, it’s not practical to walk and don’t get me started on buses. 

“You don’t own the buses. It’s a private company, ran for profit. I don’t see how you’re going to make the Gorbals any better if you’ve got a blanket ban on cars.

“You cannot change a city then expect everyone else to catch up. You’ve got to sort the problems out first.”

Glasgow’s buses are ran by private company FirstGroup, with councillors agreeing to explore options to take bus services into public ownership at a meeting in June. 

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The 2050 vision includes a simplified, prioritised bus system.

Ms Ingram was speaking at a meeting of the council’s Southside Central area partnership, where concerns over commuter congestion in Hutchesontown and the Gorbals have previously been raised.

More events in the city centre would be encouraged under the 30-year vision but Ms Ingram said:

“With events come cars, we don’t have the capacity for any more cars. We cannot get our cars parked and it’s getting worse.

“It’s nearly every weekend and I really do think you’re stopping Glasgow working and surviving.”

A council officer admitted a lack of control over transport in the city was a problem but said a transport strategy was being developed.

Mhairi Hunter, a city councillor representing Southside Central, said she welcomed aspects of the vision. However, she added: “The more people not parking in the city centre, the more it comes into our ward.”

The council’s vision also includes doubling the city centre population by 2050 to around 40,000. It would target young professionals as well as trying to stop families moving out to the city’s suburbs.

Councillor Alexander Belic raised issues over affordability. “The group you are looking at simply aren’t able to afford it in the private sector at this time,” he said.

 A riverside park from Glasgow Green to the SEC is included in the vision. Pat Hall, from Oatlands Community Council, said that idea sounds “phenomenal”. “What we need to focus on is that it’s reasonably maintained so people can walk on it and begin to visual it.”