Best laid plans Part 2

Everything is going to plan for the Commonwealth Games - see articles below (don't worry, as costs rise, we'll pick up the bill).

From the Sunday Times:

Funding shortfall hits Glasgow Games

A key venue for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games faces a funding shortfall after the credit crunch scuppered plans to raise the cash through a land sale.
(Full article here)

From the Sunday Herald:

Crossrail project in doubt due to rising costs

A PROJECT dubbed the "missing piece in Scotland's rail jigsaw" that aims to improve east-west links looks in serious doubt as the government prepares to announce its priorities in the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR).
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Ministers can expect a bruising row if Crossrail has been dropped, after an earlier study concluded that it would be worth over £1bn to the Scottish economy over 60 years, and passenger use purely at Glasgow High Street, which would become a transport hub, would be three million. It was also seen as vital for improving access to Glasgow and Prestwick airports, particularly in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games in 2014, by when it was due to be finished.
(Full article here)

And finally, another from the Sunday Times:

Credit crunch makes Clydeside work dry up

A few hundred yards from Glasgow city centre, work is progressing on a flagship project as part of the regeneration of the River Clyde.

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The Tradeston site is in the process of being cleared but no date has been fixed on when building will start. On the opposite bank, the developer Gladedale has put on hold its speculative project, a £150m office development at Broomielaw.

Further along the river, at Custom House Quay, a £200m development by the Australian entrepreneur Rodney Price has been in limbo for two years after plans for a 200-bedroom hotel were rejected. The architect RMJM admits it still has no firm starting date.

And as the Sunday Times reveals today, Elphinstone village, the ambitious £350m development on the west side of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), is the latest to go on hold. Planning consent was finally given in May just as the credit crunch was beginning to hit housebuilders hard. The result was that Elphinstone cannot realise the value of the site from potential developers in the current climate.

The SECC had been banking on receipts from that scheme to finance the Lord Foster-designed £70m, 12,500-seater arena set to be a significant part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

“It is frustrating that having waited so long for consent, it came at this time but there is no point in selling it at less than its value,” said Pete Selman, project director at Elphinstone. “There is no doubt that location is perfect and iconic. Hopefully we can still find a way to make it happen.”
These projects are at the heart of the £5 billion regeneration of Clydeside — but are the downturn and credit crunch threatening to derail long-term plans to bring life back to Glasgow’s riverside?
(Full article here)