The Clyde – waiting to be rescued

Within living memory the Clyde was the greatest centre for shipbuilding in the world – no longer. You could also travel from Glasgow to a range of seaside resorts - no longer. The occasional ship travels up and down - including the lovely Waverley - but there is not much activity. What a waste.

I took a stroll down the river on a warm summer evening recently to see what was happening, the answer sadly was very little. At Central station an excellent jetty which could take good sized passenger craft - unused, the back end of a casino, a car park, a road, lots of concrete and plenty of rubbish. Out in the Firth of Clyde the rubbish problem is even greater – our beaches are often disgusting.

Restaurants, cafes, street entertainment - none. Joggers and walkers - a few. The one thing which brought a smile to my face was that you could take a fast boat ride from the Science Centre to Braehead to buy coffee and doughnuts - welcome to Glasgow.

A once bustling highway silent and unused, taking nobody anywhere, dirty and unloved. An unfortunate contrast with so many other cities with great maritime traditions which still retain the vibrancy of their river. Why is this? What are we thinking about? Whose fault is it?

We seem in Scotland to spend large amounts of money on trams or parliament buildings which are so unnecessary. Why can’t we do something useful instead to bring purpose and life back to the Clyde?

Here are a few ideas:

First, we must do something about the amount of rubbish in the river and on our beaches. The ideal solution is that all packaging materials are biodegradable in seawater – why can’t our politicians legislate for this? In the short term surely the value of our tourist industry merits some resources being put into removing the rubbish.

To get to Campbeltown from Glasgow by road takes at least 3 hours. Arran well over 2 hours if you factor in ferry waiting times, yet it is only about 50 miles from the Broomielaw. Why can we not open up the Firth of Clyde by creating a network of fast passenger ferry routes - properly integrated with the train system through being centred on the jetty at Central station - to Arran, Bute, Campbeltown, Tarbert and Tighnabruaich? Also, connect up all those places on land with cycle paths so that we have an integrated network of ferries and cycle routes. Don’t let Calmac do this - let small local companies bid for it.

This would give people to ability to get from the communities on the far side of the Firth of Clyde to Glasgow quicker than they could by car or bus. Why can’t people commute to work in Glasgow on a daily basis from Rothesay? In addition we would create a tremendous tourist asset which would add to economic activity in places where that is badly needed. Step forward somebody.

On the banks of the river in the city centre - let Glasgow flourish - allow street food sellers, informal cafes and musicians to operate without charge. Public money should not be needed - just let micro businesses (Starbucks not wanted) do the job - let there be chaos and fun.

The Clyde has been in decline for too long - it has the potential to be a central economic asset for our community - let’s go for it.

Pinstripe is a senior member of Scotland's financial services community.