North Glasgow was badly hit by the decline of traditional heavy industry, with the locomotive factories of Springburn joined by the Saracen Foundry at Possilpark in closing its doors.

The decline in the local population caused Cowlairs Park to be underused, vandalised and left to become increasingly dilapidated and overgrown, adding to the acres of wasteland in that part of Glasgow, less than 2 miles (3.2 km) from the city centre.

Nearby to the south, the looming presence of the Sighthill tower blocks diminished as the ten structures were demolished in stages over a decade between 2008 and 2018, at which point a facility for addiction rehabilitation at the southern edge of the park closed, with services relocating to Anniesland.

[16] In July 2019, Glasgow City Council announced their intention to build around 800 homes on the vacant land to the west of the old works, including the park, within the next five years under a 'Cowlairs Masterplan'.

[17][18] The proposal did not include the smaller, but still substantial, works site itself as the council did not own that land; however, ten months later an outline plan was submitted by a private developer to construct 300 additional houses there.

In October 2013 the signalling centre at Cowlairs, which controls trains from Glasgow Queen Street High Level closed and transferred to Edinburgh Waverley.