Community and Community Planning Glasgow

News from SOOT Edinburgh

2007-05-08T15:30:00.001-07:00

Hello SOOT Supporter (Please pass on this important email  to all your contacts)What a weekend of results.  Those important to the campaign are the following Caltongate Supporters not being electedLabour Cllr Trevor Davies (now former Planning Convener of the Council) remember this http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1856542006 
  He blames the alphabet for his departure -
  http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1573&id=699092007
   
  Labour Cllr Bill Cunningham now former local councillor for Holyrood (now incorporated into larger 3 councillor city centre ward) this is the councillor who told members of his ward that he did not represent them but the labour led council and who seconded the motion to sell off the common good land to Mountgrange in June 2005, if they the council grant them planning permission for Caltongate.
   
  Donald Anderson former leader of the Council did not fulfil his dream of becoming a Labour Msp for Edinburgh South. Donald Anderson has said: "Caltongate development offers a terrific opportunity to transform this area from a neglected backwater into a vibrant integrated part of the city centre. "  
   
  New Council (no longer Labour Dominated)
  Scottish Liberal Democrats 17 Scottish Labour Party 15 Scottish National Party (SNP)  12  Scottish Conservative and Unionist  11 Scottish Green  Party 3
   
  "The future of the £300 million Caltongate project has been thrown into doubt by the results"
  http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=699682007
   
  OBJECT NOW BEFORE THE 18TH MAY 2007
   
  Even although there has been a change for the better and the campaign can celebrate the departure of those former councillors, it is important that objections still roll in, so that these incoming councillors can see that these plans are overwhelmingly unpopular among locals as well as people from around the globe.  So PLEASE get your objections in as soon as you can...if you require further help and advice do email us here at the campaign.
  The following link
  http://eh8.org.uk/action  is to step by step guide on how to object.  If you do not have time to object to all, then you may feel objecting to the demolitions of the tenements and listed buildings are your priorities. Every objection counts.  You can be any AGE, NATIONALITY and LIVE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD TO OBJECT TO THE PLANNING APPLICATIONS
   
  Sally 
  on behalf of 
  The SOOT Campaign
   
  
   
  check www.eh8.org.uk regularly for updates between emails

News from SOOT Edinburgh

2007-05-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

Hello SOOT Supporter (Please pass on this important email  to all your contacts)
What a weekend of results.  Those important to the campaign are the following Caltongate Supporters not being electedLabour Cllr Trevor Davies (now former Planning Convener of the Council) remember this http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1856542006 
  He blames the alphabet for his departure -
  http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1573&id=699092007
   
  Labour Cllr Bill Cunningham now former local councillor for Holyrood (now incorporated into larger 3 councillor city centre ward) this is the councillor who told members of his ward that he did not represent them but the labour led council and who seconded the motion to sell off the common good land to Mountgrange in June 2005, if they the council grant them planning permission for Caltongate.
   
  Donald Anderson former leader of the Council did not fulfil his dream of becoming a Labour Msp for Edinburgh South. Donald Anderson has said: "Caltongate development offers a terrific opportunity to transform this area from a neglected backwater into a vibrant integrated part of the city centre. "  
   
  New Council (no longer Labour Dominated)
  Scottish Liberal Democrats 17 Scottish Labour Party 15 Scottish National Party (SNP)  12  Scottish Conservative and Unionist  11 Scottish Green  Party 3
   
  "The future of the £300 million Caltongate project has been thrown into doubt by the results"
  http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=699682007
   
  OBJECT NOW BEFORE THE 18TH MAY 2007
   
  Even although there has been a change for the better and the campaign can celebrate the departure of those former councillors, it is important that objections still roll in, so that these incoming councillors can see that these plans are overwhelmingly unpopular among locals as well as people from around the globe.  So PLEASE get your objections in as soon as you can...if you require further help and advice do email us here at the campaign.
  The following link
  http://eh8.org.uk/action  is to step by step guide on how to object.  If you do not have time to object to all, then you may feel objecting to the demolitions of the tenements and listed buildings are your priorities. Every objection counts.  You can be any AGE, NATIONALITY and LIVE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD TO OBJECT TO THE PLANNING APPLICATIONS
   
  Sally 
  on behalf of 
  The SOOT Campaign
   
  
   
  check www.eh8.org.uk regularly for updates between emails

Campaigners Win Fight To Save City Football Pitches (from Evening Times)

2007-05-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

Campaigners Win Fight To Save City Football Pitches (from Evening Times)

Govanhill Baths Community Trust

2007-04-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

govanhillbaths@yahoo.co.uk
UPDATE 34.        April 14th 2007
1.                   STILL HERE!
No we have not disappeared we have been busy on various projects and the Friends of the Baths have been meeting every 2nd and fourth Tuesday and building towards the submission of the Business Plan the council requested for end of July after granting us a 99 year lease last September.

Since the last Update we have had a technical difficulty with our mailing list of some 400 folk. We know that four or five individuals asked to removed from the list and unfortunately these will remain on this let, do contact us again to let us know who you are and we shall remove you from our list.

2.                  CHARITY CONCERT SUNDAY APRIL 22nd 2007 FOTHERINGAY CHURCH HALL

PLEASE SEE ATTACHED detail of the charity concert arranged for 22nd April at the Fotheringay Church Hall (Hutcheson’s Grammar school hall now).  This has come about as a result of the invitation from Hutcheson’s school and the minister Rev Paul Judd who are keen to help local and worth charities. We have planning it since last November.

The concert is a combination of European and “Asian” classical music and a 22 piece orchestra has been assembled.  They are all national professional players and several are senior pupils from Hutcheson’s itself.

On the night we will be making announcements about the pool developments and you will be able to purchase memorabilia!  Pool pens, swimming bags etc and there will be refreshments.

Entrance is £5.00 but you will need a ticket.  If you can sell more do let us know or contact Nicola on the attached.

3.                   GOVANHILL BATHS COMMUNITY TRUST CHARITY SHOP

We have now taken the lease of a charity shop in Calder Street (just at the junction with Victoria Road).   This has meant a major effort in fund raising of course and we plan to open early in May.  Already we have a much stock but we need more particularly quality goods of any sort and MOST IMPORTANT we need volunteers to help run the shop.   If there is anyone with signwriting skills, decorating or shop fitting expertise or who can donate shop fittings, paint and the rest do get in touch.

The shop will be a major signal to the community that this Trust is determined to see these baths opened as we have stipulated as a Well Being and Sports Centre.  We need all hands now for this final shove and we are confident that the shop can be a major focus for our efforts.

Please get in touch if you can help in any of the ways mentioned above.

4.                  MARYHILL BATHS GLASGOW

The reader can imagine the surprise and huge disappointment the Trust Board felt when it was announced in the Evening Times two months ago that  Glasgow City Council had agreed to spend £6M on the development of a sporting and swimming facility in Maryhill!  We are delighted for the people there and congratulate those who have been lobbying hard for community facilities in Maryhill.

But why we have to ask is it possible to spend this sort of money there and help a community whilst a voluntary local group in Govanhill has toiled for 5 years to save Govanhill Baths?  No mention has been made of these plans in the several meetings we have had with the council and formal requests for funding our scheme have been declined.  (Although we have had formal statements of intent to use the facility from the Directors of Education and Culture and Leisure Services Departments and offers of professional advice).

We shall now be making a formal request again to the council for substantial financial assistance in the development of our plans.

5.                  £20,000K FOR 10K!! THE INAUGURATION OF THE GOVANHILL BATHS COMMUNITY HARRIERS

And now the good news for all those who would be fitter and healthier or are already!

The 13th May is the Glasgow women’s 10K and 16th June (Father’s Day) is the men’s.  We are setting ourselves the challenge of finding enough men and women to raise at least £10K each  -  £20K in total.

We have some training schedules and will be organising fitness runs between now and the events.  The training runs will represent the inauguration of the Govanhill Community Harriers!  (Other events are planned for this new club).

We also attach a sponsor form for those who want to get started immediately.

Your reward apart from the satisfaction of course will be a free Govanhill Baths T Shirt and a certificate of membership of the Harriers!

If you would like to run or be involved in the Harriers call Andrew on  0777999583.  Or just come along to the next Friends of the Baths meeting on Tuesday 31st April – see below.

Further information at;

http://www.runglasgow.org/

http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Howyoucanhelp/Events/Glasgow10KforMen

6.                  FRIENDS OF GOVANHILL BATHS MEETINGS

We continue to meet every second and fourth Tuesday of the month at Daisy Street Community Centre at 7pm.  Next meeting is on Tuesday 31st April.

GRN Hustings - The Future of Glasgow's Communities

2007-04-15T03:33:00.000-07:00

Do you want to highlight an issue going on in your community? Do you feel what passes for a political debate never talks about your community's problems and concerns? Here's your chance to raise your issues for once in a high profile public debate! The Glasgow Residents' Network and the Scottish Tenants' Organisation

Present for one night only:-

A Public Debate on, The Future of Glasgow's Communities, Tuesday 24th April 2007, at 7.15pm for 7.30pm, at the Quality Hotel (previously The Central Hotel), 99 Gordon Street, Glasgow G1 3SF [Inside Central Station].

* Do you believe casino 'regeneration' is real and for you?
* Do you believe your community is safe in the hands of …x.…?
* Do you believe the hype that housing associations hold the key to
the housing crisis?
* Do want to sell off local parks and amenities for housing?
* Are tenants being treated fairly by landlords?
* Are you facing large bills from your factor?
* Does planning take into account the wishes of the local community?
* Do you feel safe in your community?
* Do you want to see an end to dawn raids?
* Are you concerned about the lack of facilities for young people?

* If these and other questions affect you then come along to, The
Future of Glasgow's Communities husting

This is our chance to put politicians on the spot! We're going to have a number of active community campaigns and residents associations present at the event to set the scene by talking about their communities and issues, many of which are being ignored by government. Invited prospective politicians include:

Tommy Sheridan MSP, Solidarity; Sandra White MSP, SNP; Robert Brown MSP, Lib Dem, Patrick Harvie MSP, Greens; Others include ~ Conservative Party, Communist Party, Scottish Socialist Party, the ruling New Labour Party .

All Welcome ~ See you there!

For info call 07976 718 111, or email:
glasgowresidentsnetwork@gmail.com, or agahst2003@hotmail.com

Details on our website: www.glasgowresidents.wordpress.com

Culture Trusts First Priority Hire 52 000 Spin Doctor (from Evening Times)

2007-04-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

Culture Trusts First Priority Hire 52 000 Spin Doctor (from Evening Times)

Common Good Land - Progress

2007-02-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Common Good Land - Progress

Scotland on Sunday - Review - City takes panes to remember Geddes

2007-02-06T05:54:00.000-08:00

Scotland on Sunday - Review - City takes panes to remember Geddes

The danger is when it becomes just a formality

2006-10-23T04:14:00.000-07:00

Park sell of in Solihull
Lorely Listens (Lorely Burt)
In some respects this public notice is a formality. It paves the way for Shirley Advance to buy the land which will be make way for the Asda superstore and the rest of the proposed Heart of Shirley development.

Glasgow Residents Network

2006-10-17T03:25:00.000-07:00

2nd Conference of the Glasgow Residents Network — Glasgow community action discussion day

Four firms team up to bid for M74 contract - Evening Times

2006-10-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

Four firms team up to bid for M74 contract - Evening Times

Getting rid of Tesco's

2006-10-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Other ways people can be pro-active in stopping big greedy TESCO'S

1. You can write to/e-mail your local councillor or see them at their surgery.
2. You can write to/e-mail your local MSP or MP to raise your concerns.
3. You can write a letter to your local newspaper, or contact the media.
4. You can join your local Community Council, and campaign as part of a Politically recognised Group.
5. You can collect objectors signatures on a petition and submit it to the council.
6 You can attend/chair or call a Public Meeting in your area, inviting the media.
7. You can boycott the supermarket or proposed store in question, and shop locally, supporting your local economy,not raising the profits of a multi-national organisitation.

If you have any ideas or suggestions yourself, send them in like these were

The proposed humungous Tesco at Yorkhill

2006-09-28T04:22:00.000-07:00

The proposed humungous Tesco at Yorkhill, which involves,among other things, demolition of the Partick Central station ticket office (more recently the HQ of  A1 cabs) on the bridge from Partick Cross to the hospitals. I took a note of the details in case anyone wants to file a separate
objection, see:
http://www.tescopoly.org/index.
NB deadline for objections is tomorrow!!

Here's how you file an objection (the info is also on the tescopoly site):
http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/

In particular, these are the ONLY grounds on which you can file an objection:
- Contrary to the Development Plan
- Appearance (design, materials, scale, massing, etc)
- Traffic, parking and access problems
- Residential amenity (noise, overshadowing, overlooking, developing
too much garden space) Effect on Listed Buildings and Conservation
Areas

...(NB Jim, 'blocking my view' isn't on the and list, they are allowed
to ignore letters which use that objection!). There's a sample
objection letter on the tescopoly website.

- Baz

Glasgow Residents Groups Network - Campaigning activities

2006-09-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Our campaigning activities

Proposals for discussion at the moment include holding a permanent protest outside Granite House, targetted protests at intransigent LHO offices, staging a GHA tenants and homeowners roadshow to raise awareness of the issues across Glasgow communities

Tesco kills-off local shopping and will do the same in Partick

2006-09-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

Join this Boycott
 Recruit a Friend to Join this Boycott
in the bid to be the cheapest and most popular supermarket in the UK, tesco have always done more than their fair share of brutalising when it comes to dictating terms to farmers. in order to source cheaply they vastly increase the 'food miles' attached to each product. unfortunately the company goes from strength to strength, expanding into central and eastern europe, putting local shops out of business, in short, the 'wall mart' effect. with its recent foray into the cheap clothing market, we are about to witness further financial success, further shareholder satisfaction, and further pressure on textile workers who bear the brunt of increased competition: $1 a day for a 72-hour week. with slogans like 'every little helps' and 'helping you spend less every day' the company makes itself out to be the consumer's friend, but in reality it is the planet's enemy.

THE REST

Special reductions: Tesco cuts retail village plans after outcry - The Herald

2006-09-08T06:17:00.000-07:00

The move comes in the same week as the dominance of supermarkets in community life and their power over suppliers came under scrutiny.

Working for a rejection of housing stock transfer in Renfrewshire

2006-09-06T03:15:00.000-07:00

Your help is wanted and needed. You can also call 07976 718 111 to say you want to help. There is to be a ballot of all council tenants in Renfrewshire on the proposal to transfer from the council to Renfrewshire housing association ltd, starting on September 19th.  We have been working for 2 1/2 years in preparation for this, and are
    confident that we can win a NO vote to put further pressure on government
    following the NO vote in Edinburgh last year.  However, Renfrewshire council
    have been spending millions of pounds in recent weeks to bribe tenants with
    glossy leaflets, bus adverts, and canvassers. 
     
    THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN.  The groundwork has been done.  Our own surveys
    suggest that we are just ahead, but we need to consolidate our vote and
    dispel the myths in the next few weeks. WE NEED AS MANY VOLUNTEERS TO COME
    TO RENFREWSHIRE AS POSSIBLE TO LEAFLET AND CANVASS.  Call 07976 718 111
    today.... Please !
     
    Every Thursday night until the ballot we will be meeting at 6.30pm in the
    Lagoon leisure centre carpark in the centre of Paisley (access from Mill
    street, opposite the police station and council building).  If people are
    arriving later, or wish to leaflet or canvass on another day, they can phone
    me for materials and details of where to go. 
     
    We would greatly appreciate any help other branches, groups or individuals
    can give.  A NO vote here would be likely to sink this policy for Scotland,
    and force them to invest the money directly.  Please spread the word. 
     
    Many thanks
     
    Gerry McCartney
    secretary of Renfrewshire Defend Council Housing. 
    Contact - oldgeriatrix@hotmail.com  or 0798
    554 5872.

VICTORY Govanhill Baths Community Trust

2006-08-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

                     THE VICTORY!
On 3rd July as we reported in the last UPDATE we met with Council officials and local elected members and presented our first Phase Business Plan and Options analysis.A record of that meeting is attached below (APPENDIX 1, below) for information.
 
As a result the council has today (18th August) formally approved that the Trust be granted a 99 year lease on the baths in order to convert it to a Well being and Sporting Complex as described in the Executive Summary sent with UPDATE 31.  WE have been given 12 months to demonstrate in a second phase business plan that we can present viable capital and revenue figures to make the plan work.  Otherwise the council says it will place the site on the open market. 
 
The formal record of the decision can be seen at;
 
http://www.glasgowcitycouncil.co.uk/committee_minutes/public/extdocviewtop.asp?CID=2362&DATE=18/08/2006&TIME=13:00&DAY=Friday&PAGE=1
 
Interestingly the Evening Times was given an early warning of the council’s “decision” last Monday, 14th August and we learned of the decision from a reporter on that paper.   To date we have not been formally informed although we are happy to accept the decision!  
 
At the heart of our Business Plan lie the notions that this is a partnership project tied to the social economy.  On the front of our business plan we cite Bridgett McConnell’s carefully chosen words extracted from the Scottish Executive’s ideas on the social economy.  (The social economy is the encouragement and facilitation of community members to work towards the development of projects and ideas that will enhance the overall wellbeing of a community) 
 
“….culture and sport in the hands of the people of Glasgow…... will work most effectively when all of those with a stake in culture and sport in the city, whether in the public, private, community or voluntary sectors work together”.
                                               Bridgett McConnell, Evening Times March 8th 2006
 
 
So we have reached a position no-one could have imagined four years ago and the Trust is calling on all the support it can get.  The Trust’s Board will be posting developments and  ideas but please note that the Friends of Govanhill Baths continues to meet every other Tuesday at Daisy Street neighbourhood Centre at 7pm.  The next meeting being on Tuesday 29th August. 
 
 
2.     THE CELEBRATION AND FUND RAISING (only £5.7M!)
 
On Saturday September 18th  11am – 4pm) at the Peace Garden adjacent to the baths we are holding a celebration barbeque party and brica brac/car boot sale.  There will be stalls, music, entertainment and children’s games as we kick off a momentous year that will ensure the plans we have for the Baths are realised.  
 
 
3.                THE NATIONAL SUPPORT –  THE NATIONAL POOLS FEDERATION!
 
 
Also as reported on the last UPDATE we presented Govanhill Bath’s history and plans to the Victoria Society Conference in June.  A full report has now been made and this can be seen  by following the link in the message (AAPENDIX 2 Below) ) , viz;
 
 
http://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/downloads/MakingaSplashReport.pdf
 
 
All the details in this report are worth a look.  They make plain that the issue of preserving and resorting historic and other urban pools is gaining momentum as more and more people realise what a dreadful loss they will be to healthy living and heritage if they continue to be destroyed by local authorities on economic grounds alone. 
 
 
4.                AND……. THE BOOK!!
 
Malavan Media is producing two books (See Below)  in the near future.  The first, “Great Lengths”  is a history of indoor pools in Britain and the author and Mavalan will be visiting Glasgow in October in order to research Govanhill Baths as well as other City Baths. 
 
The second, “Played in Glasgow” (part of a series, Played in Britain)  is also being researched and you can see details of the sorts of book they produce at its web site at;
 
www.playedinbritain.co.uk
 
If you think you can assist or have special stories or information about Govanhill Baths, do get in touch directly with Jackie Spreckley at;  
 
jackie.spreckley@malavan.com
 
 
5.   AND FINALLY…THE CONCLUSION
 
 
Meeting up with 120 people from all over the UK made plain the amount of feeling there is about the preservation of Victorian and Edwardian Pools.   What became clear there was the common history that exists across the UK about the development of community swimming pools.  Read about this in the summary of Dr Ian Gordon’s talk at the conference on the website at (3) above.

"The Scottish Executive is open for business"

2006-07-09T07:14:00.000-07:00

The New Regeneration Statement, The Royal Bank of Scotland & the Community Voices Network. Chik Collins (Variant)

The Scottish Executive is open for business”

2006-07-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

The New Regeneration Statement, The Royal Bank of Scotland & the Community Voices Network

Chik Collins

Protest at service cuts to deprived area - Save Our Buses!

2006-06-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

CAMPAIGNERS urged the city's largest bus operator to put passengers before profit during a protest at the company's headquarters.  More than a dozen passengers from Milton took their fight to the doorstep of First Glasgow's HQ in Victoria Road.

Members of the Save Our Buses (Milton) group have been calling for the 29 service to be increased again since it was cut back earlier this year.

The action group handed over a 1000-signature petition during the demonstration outside the bus garage gates.

Campaign spokeswoman Angela McCormick, 37, a college lecturer, said: "We want a regular and reliable service all day and at weekends."

Pensioners, young people and workers are all affected by cuts in Milton, a deprived area with no shopping centre, few activities for young people and a low rate of car ownership.

Milton councillor Billy McAllister said: "People are being stranded and abandoned - it's diabolical."

Retired teacher Jimmy Ross, 60, from Maryhill, backed growing calls for some form of bus regulation.

He said: "The Government talks about inclusion but these people are being excluded."

In February, First cut the 29 service, which used to operate every 15 minutes. It now runs half-hourly, stops after 6pm and has been scrapped on a Sunday.

In the latest round of cuts, to be introduced from July 2, the No75 night service between Milton and the city centre will also be withdrawn.

A spokeswoman for First said a representative of the firm will attend a public meeting on bus services next Thursday.

23/06/06

2006-06-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

Save our Buses and our Homes
Click image for details

Winfarm Prospects In The Isles > BBC article

2006-06-19T03:39:00.000-07:00

Six sites in Barra in the Western Isles are being considered for wind farms which would provide enough power for the island and neighbouring Vatersay.

The plans are being led by local development organisation, Barra and Vatersay Community Ltd.

One proposal is to erect three small turbines on common grazings to supply both islands' energy needs.

A feasibility study of the different sites will be discussed at a public meeting in Barra on 29 June.

Village halls

Possible locations for turbines include Ardmhrr, Beinn an Carnan, Borve machair, Grean, and Rubhas Liath.

Ben Scurribhal at Eoligarry has been suggested as the best site because it is the closest to a connection to the local power grid.

It is proposed to export any surplus electricity to South Uist.

If there is wide support from islanders, a community trust would be set up to operate the wind farm scheme on behalf of villagers on Barra and Vatersay.

Any profits would be ploughed back into the communities to fund projects such as piers and village halls.

Broken lifts are making our lives a misery

2006-06-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

TENANTS in three city tower blocks are demanding urgent action to stop their ageing lifts breaking down.People living in the 22-storey flats in Maryhill say they are trapped in their homes every time the 20-year-old lifts pack in.

They claim one lift was out of action for four-and-a-half months.

Now, after another breakdown last week, they are calling for landlord Glasgow Housing Association to replace the faulty lifts in Cedar Street, part of St George's Estate.

Last Wednesday the lift at

No 65 broke down for a day, and many pensioners, disabled tenants and mums with prams were unable to make the lengthy journey down the fire escape stairs.

Volunteer Graham McGunnagle, 20, lives on the fifth floor and can use the stairs when the lift is broken. But his 66-year-old gran on the 17th floor has to stay at home.

Graham, who is a member of Cedar Tenants' Association, said: "My gran can't do stairs so it would have been too much for her to walk down 17 flights.

"She was stuck at home all day. We've complained numerous times but are given no explanations as to why it's happening."

Disabled nursing home volunteer Mark Rooney, 37, who stays on the 20th floor of No 104 says he is at the end of his tether.

Mark, who is registered blind, said: "Going up and down stairs is an absolute nightmare for me. This happens regularly.

"The lifts should have been replaced years ago. I'm angry, disappointed and downhearted."

Mum Natasha McKay, 22, struggled up and down 20 flights with her son Daniel Nixon, 2.

Natasha said: "When I took Daniel to nursery I had to bump him all the way down 20 flights in the buggy. I had to struggle back up with the buggy while carrying him. It's terrible."

In a previous breakdown, lifts in No 65 were out of action for four-and-a-half months and on at least four occasions since, lifts have jammed at No 104. The third tower block, No 9, has also been affected.

A GHA spokeswoman said the breakdown last week was due to a burst water pipe which damaged the lift's electrical supply.

Last year's repairs were held up because the GHA was waiting for a part to be delivered.

The spokeswoman added: "We do understand the tenants' frustrations and can assure them our staff dealt with the isolated lift breakdowns as quickly as physically possible.

"GHA is spending £1million every two days on improving tenants' homes across the city."

Last week, GHA announced the city's 80,000 tenants are to be given more control over housing decision-making and will be able to choose how much cash is allocated to specific projects.

12/06/06

Action Group Steps Up Park Fight

2006-06-09T08:54:00.001-07:00

Campaigners leading a protest against plans to sell off playing fields to a developer will hold a public meeting tonight.Members of Paisely-based action group, Friends of Seedhill Park, are outraged at Renfrewshire Council agreeing to sell off part of a park for housing and a carpark.  More than 60 people objected to the proposals and petition carrying 200 signatures was submitted.  Money from the land sale will be used to fund the revamp of Seedhill pavilion.  If planning permission is granted, 79 two bedroom flats and a 160-space car park will be built on the land.  But locals are angry at the loss of a large chunk of the playing fields, measuring 0.68 hectares.  Tonight a public meeting chaired by campaigner George Elliot, will be held in St John Ogilivie school, Lacy Street, Paisely, at 7pm.  Mr Elliot, who lives near the playing fields, said: "We are trying to come across as the voice of reason - it's not political.  
"We'll be asking what people think.  if the majority in the hall want it to go ahead, we'll sit down, but if they don't want it, we'll launch a campaign to make the council change its decision.
"we don't have a problem with upgrading the pavilion, but we're against building a car park and housing on a section of the park." >> From the Evening Times, 8/6/06

Action Group Steps Up Park Fight

2006-06-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

Campaigners leading a protest against plans to sell off playing fields to a developer will hold a public meeting tonight.Members of Paisely-based action group, Friends of Seedhill Park, are outraged at Renfrewshire Council agreeing to sell off part of a park for housing and a carpark.  More than 60 people objected to the proposals and petition carrying 200 signatures was submitted.  Money from the land sale will be used to fund the revamp of Seedhill pavilion.  If planning permission is granted, 79 two bedroom flats and a 160-space car park will be built on the land.  But locals are angry at the loss of a large chunk of the playing fields, measuring 0.68 hectares.  Tonight a public meeting chaired by campaigner George Elliot, will be held in St John Ogilivie school, Lacy Street, Paisely, at 7pm.  Mr Elliot, who lives near the playing fields, said: "We are trying to come across as the voice of reason - it's not political.  
"We'll be asking what people think.  if the majority in the hall want it to go ahead, we'll sit down, but if they don't want it, we'll launch a campaign to make the council change its decision.
"we don't have a problem with upgrading the pavilion, but we're against building a car park and housing on a section of the park."

People power saves pitches at city park - Evening Times

2006-05-29T01:14:00.000-07:00

People power saves pitches at city park - Evening Times

We need a youth club to get us off streets at night - Evening Times

2006-05-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

We need a youth club to get us off streets at night - Evening Times

Support builds for Community Bandstand Restoration Initiative at Kelvingrove

2006-05-16T01:22:00.000-07:00

From scottish parliament website:  S2M-4276 Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab) :  Rock the Kelvin! Restore the Kelvingrove Park Bandstand and Amphitheatre- That the Parliament congratulates the Friends of Kelvingrove Park for their excellent campaign to have Glasgow's last remaining bandstand restored to its former and deserved glory; notes the proposals to have Edinburgh's Ross Bandstand upgraded as a major new cultural facility; further notes that Historic Scotland has declared that the Kelvingrove Park Bandstand has cultural and social significance; welcomes the support for the campaign from contemporary Scottish music acts Belle and Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand and Teenage Fanclub; further notes that the Heritage Lottery Fund, which is currently considering a funding application, has previously provided support to some 50-plus bandstand restoration projects across the United Kingdom, and calls on Glasgow City Council to lead the way in ensuring that a viable and sustainable future can be secured for this proud piece of the city's heritage and so create a unique open air venue in the heart of Glasgow's West End. 

Supported by: Patrick Harvie, Bill Aitken, Jackie Baillie, Scott Barrie, Bill Butler, Robin Harper, Rosie Kane, Mr Frank McAveety, Nora Radcliffe, Trish Godman, Fiona Hyslop, Carolyn Leckie, Ms Rosemary Byrne, Donald Gorrie, Eleanor Scott, Tommy Sheridan, Ms Sandra White, Jean Turner, Linda Fabiani Lodged on 21 April 2006; current

Now will MSPs back bid to save Kelvingrove bandstand? - Evening Times

2006-04-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

Now will MSPs back bid to save Kelvingrove bandstand? - Evening Times

Charity's delight over good condition of Govanhill baths - Evening Times

2006-04-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

Charity's delight over good condition of Govanhill baths - Evening Times

GHA have buried a highly interesting consultation document on their website.

2006-04-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

GHA's 'Rent Consultation'(pdf) carries hilarious questions like "Question 10: Do you agree that services such as stair cleaning and concierge services should be paid only by those tenants who receive them?"  In other words they're asking if they can pap a charge onto those who have concierges and so on. Responses to the consultation should be returned by 31st May 2006 to:

              Maureen Dowden
              Policy and Service Development Team
              Granite House
              177 Trongate
              Glasgow
              G1 5HF
              Tel: 0141 274 6577 THE REST

Weekly Planning Applications List

2006-04-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

Weekly Planning Applications List

BBC Radio Scotland profiles the Trust and its efforts to open the pool, BBC Radio 18th April, 7-30am.

2006-04-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

The new and highly successful new southside community newspaper G41 and popular profiles the plans for the pool in latest edition and conducts a poll on its website asking for people to register support for the pool.  So far it is running at 90% in favour. (follows in next UPDATE) 5.         COMMUNITY MEETING ON APRIL 18th AT DAISY STREET 
   
  To a packed standing room only Daisy Street Neighbourhood Centre hall on Tuesday this week Alan Pert of Nord Architects outlined the developments so far, Fatima Uygun outlined the recent history of the baths complex including the work of the Trust.  Davie Eyre the Editor of G41 chaired the meeting.  Board members responded to key questions from the floor including some from a number of children present.     
   
  The response from the gathered community was emphatic, enthusiastic and totally supportive – this scheme warranted the full support of the community and the city council and the Trust deserved the opportunity to realise its aspirations and ambitions! 
   
  All parts of the community were present and there was a lively discussion and question time where the main issue was whether the scheme could and would go ahead.  The answer to this was that it depended on the feasibility study and options we were submitting to the council at the end of May.  Tellingly the one politician present, Cllr Malcolm Cumming (Strathbungo Ward) was able to confirm that he believed the council had no great enthusiasm for simply building flats on the site and would be seriously considering the feasibility study as an option.   
   
  We received apologies and messages of support from Cllr Anne Marie Miller who wished the project “every success” and Keith Baldassara, MSP’s Gordon Jackson, Frank McAveety, Robert Brown, Tommy Sheridan, Nicola Sturgeon and local MP Mohammad Sarwar (who indicated his intention to be present on Saturday for the “clinic” at Annette Street Primary School).
   
  Candy Munro of the Initiative could not be there but said;
   
  I would like to congratulate you and the Trust on the ambitious plans that you are in the process of developing.  We are of course fully supportive, and when the time comes we would be keen to work with you to ensure that local people benefit from any jobs that are created, both through the redevelopment phase and indeed the end use.
   
   
  A full report will appear in the next UPDATE.
   
   
  IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO SEE ALL THE PLANS AND MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN BY ATTENDING THE “CLINIC” ON SATURDAY 22nd APRIL FROM 11am UNTIL 3pm AT ANNETTE STREET PRIMARY SCHOOL.  REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED – RELAX AND DISCUSS THE IDEAS SO FAR WITH THE ARCHITECT AND THE GBCT BOARD MEMBERS. 
   
  WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU.

Charity's delight over good condition of Govanhill baths - Evening Times

2006-04-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

Charity's delight over good condition of Govanhill baths - Evening Times

City Plan - Part 1 - Development Strategy - Infrastructure - Education Infrastructure

2006-04-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

City Plan - Part 1 - Development Strategy - Infrastructure - Education Infrastructure

Victory for Community in Milton, Glasgow

2006-04-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

An eight year long campaign to save the St. Augustine's football pitches
in Milton, Glasgow has finally triumphed, with a £2.4m investment in
community facilities.Glasgow City Council's Policy and Resources Committee is expected to
approve plans for new changing rooms, community centre, and library at
13:00 today Tuesday 18th April. Refurbished football pitches and new rugby
pitches are also planned for the site.

That should mark an end to Council attempts to sell the entire site for
private housing development, first halted by a public local planning
inquiry.

John MacLean of the local save our pitches group said that he was driven
to start the campaign 8 years ago when his young son watched in horror as
workmen sawed down the set of goalposts opposite his house. Along with the
goalposts, the secondary school, swimming pool, and changing rooms were
demolished in a single weekend to pre-empt any occupation of those
facilities.

He said campaigners were not declaring final victory until they see the
full details and timetable, but that the announcement was a vindication of
the hard work of all the local campaigners, and especially of Joe Kerr,
Charlie Traynor, and Alex O'Kane

The swimming pool demolished in 1998 will remain as an outstanding issue.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5051107.html
http://libcom.org/news/article.php/commonwealth-games-glasgow-250306

2006-04-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

Click image for details

"The need to know. The publics right to be informed"

2006-03-15T02:33:00.000-08:00

Public meeting organised jointly by "Georges X Chalkboard" and "Save our Homes Campaign" Thursday 16th March 7: 30 at the Woodside Hall, 36 Glenfarg Street, Glasgow G20 7QF (Map)

The meeting was called to address and demystify a range of issues including: Second stage transfer - What is the future of your home and your community. 

"Save Our Homes Campaign" is a group who recognise the need for joined up thinking, and cooperation, and that the housing problems and confusion that tenants are experiencing, is city wide and systematic.

Georges X Chalkboard is a small drop in social centre, set up and run by volunteers. We have been involved in a range of activities, from local history projects, music, local group meetings We cater of all ages. 

What the group is finding more and more, through talking to local people, is a need to discuss housing problems. In as much as it has becoming one of the staple occupations of the shop. The confusion and insecurity of local folk who are unaware of. Where they will be in a year or two, whether there house will be demolished, or whether they will they get one of the new houses that have been promised, is having a drastic effect on the community. This insecurity, compounded by the private development, that is sprouting up all around them, the lack of repairs to rented property, or the over pricing to house owners, when repairs are done, is creating frustration to both rented and house owning tenants and has fueled and created the need for the above meeting. 

The Chalkboard has risen to the challenge of doing what is necessary in trying to help people understand from an independent point of view, of what is involved, when tenants have to decipher the plans, strategies and promises, of organisations such as the Glasgow Housing Association, and Glasgow City Council, who spend great deals of money, selling ideas to the public and very little, on allotting costs towards public representation. 

This meeting will attempt to address and explain the wider issues that will eventually have an effect on all of our houses and financial costs to ourselves by the upheaval of property development that is consuming our city.

The indications are that people are getting sick of the constant barrage of council led attacks on social infrastructure: Hamiltonhill where a public meeting attracted 70 angry residents with more unable to get in, who are fed up being ignored by housing bosses. Or the outrage at a public meeting when the council put forward an idea to tarmac Victoria parks football pitches as a 260 permanent car park, and space for 400 more cars, for use by a sports complex.  -  While ten minutes from the stadium (Scotstoun) the Clydeside has an abundance of space for thousands of cars. It is in this context that the public will have to start informing each other of the ramifications of these events and their detrimental effects on community life.  The Chalkboard as a community social center, feels it has a responsibility towards these aims.

The Georges X chalkboard is in receipt of no public funding, is independent, and is not affiliated to any political party.


Georges X Chalkboard, 
34 Clarendon Place,
Glasgow, G20 7PZ,
 T: 0141 332 2902
email: info@chalkboard.org.uk


---------Info on flier---------------

What does GHA's business plan mean for you?

Is your home under threat of demolition, and if so why?

What is second stage transfer 
and what does it mean for 
Woodside?

What is the future of GHA 
rental guarantees – will rents 
go up?

GHA's planned doubling of 
charges for homeowners, what 
does it mean for you?  Are 
you already being charged too much?



Whether you are a tenant of the GHA or a homeowner GHA's latest business plan
is likely to have implications for you.  This is a joint meeting being held by
the Save Our Homes Campaign and the George's X Chalkboard.  

Invited speakers include:- 

- Sean Clerkin  (Save Our Homes Campaign, Chair)
- The George's X Chalkboard

Kids can't beat obesity if we sell off green space

2006-03-09T11:01:00.000-08:00

REPORTS and surveys make the lives of young Scots sound nightmarish. They talk of anti-social behaviour, underage drinking and obesity. JOHN WATSON, policy officer of Barnardo's Scotland, believes one answer is, quite literally, child's playOUR children are getting fatter. One in three is officially overweight by the time they leave primary school. Worse, one in five are "obese" and one in 10 "severely obese".

That means they are so fat their health is at risk, now and in the future.

Politicians, parents, teachers and health experts across the country are all working on ways of keeping youngsters trim.

But at Barnardo's, we think there is one easy way to help: let children play.

Perhaps play is so simple that we have taken it for granted and forgotten how important it is. But there is no better way for children to get - and keep - fit.

So what do I mean by play? I am not talking about structured PE lessons or fitness regimes, however helpful they might be.

I am talking about what it is that children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interests, in their own way and for their own reasons.

Or as one child put it to me: "Play is what I do when nobody is bossing me around."

And that smart kid is backed by an increasing body of research showing that this "free playing" brings vital benefits.

The British Medical Journal has reported the main solution to the "obesity epidemic" in young children should be to "reduce television viewing and promote playing".

Other researchers found free play, far from being simple time out for children, was second only to PE classes in terms of burning off calories.

But play is about more than simply exercising the kids. Play also has a social dimension, and the interaction, negotiation and teamwork, promoted by playing in groups and teams helps in developing children's social skills.

A recent youth justice report stated that "A lack of structured leisure activities was cited in social work reports as a factor contributing to offending behaviour for 59% of the sample."

Through play, children learn about themselves and their environment, and are able to test and expand their own limits.

Playing is accepted as a vital part of personal development and the Mental Health Foundation has found lack of play opportunities is a cause of increasing mental health problems in children and young people.

Unfortunately, for too many of our children the opportunities to play are limited and seem to be getting worse.

Last month, an Evening Times' article highlighted how playing field sites in Glasgow are being sold off to make cash for frontline council services, causing fury among groups which insist the council should be promoting more active lifestyles.

The article revealed around 45 children use the North Kelvin pitches every Sunday.

And only weeks ago a battle also began to prevent a large slice of Victoria Park in Jordanhill being turned into a car park.

Parents are also more likely than ever before to keep their children in - for their own safety. Stranger Danger has been blown up into a major parental concern.

The distance children are now allowed to roam from their own homes has been cut to a ninth of what it was in 1970.

When they do go out, unaccompanied children are increasingly seen as a social problem and children themselves say that hostile adults make them feel unwelcome outside.

And our streets have less and less space for children to play. They are increasingly dominated by cars and new developments mean playing fields have been lost at a rate of one a day in the last eight years.

Astonishingly, in the UK there are now 80-acres of golf course for every one acre of children's play space.

And the shortage of play areas is at its worst in some of our most deprived areas. Areas such as North Glasgow and Possilpark are particularly lacking in good play facilities and last spring parents in the area held a conference to look at ways of improving play environments.

The parents have presented a petition to the Scottish Parliament for more action.

But, despite growing concern over the problem of play deprivation, it seems the penny has still to drop with politicians.

The Government doesn't even have a policy on helping people to play - despite having a policy on almost everything else.

Efforts to support play can take many forms - providing a swing park, marking out some football pitches or leaving some good open space for running around.

It should involve teachers and nursery staff understanding the importance of free play.

Now more than ever play provides a targeted and effective response to the needs of children and young people in Scotland and it should be supported with a vigour which reflects that.

Barnardo's and Play Scotland are calling for a broad package of measures - a Play Strategy - that aims to provide a safe and accessible play environment for every child in Scotland.

21/02/06 Evening Times

There are alternatives in planning to be heard - Start a community forum?

2006-03-07T01:55:00.000-08:00

Canongate Community Forum issues Alternative Strategies Plan  The Conangate Community Forum is asking for input about the development plan concerning the old town Edinburghs. Suggestions, Feedback and Comments need to be in on Wednesday latest, in order to be influential for Thursdays Edinburgh Council meeting. Full ArticleFull Article

Don't lose your planning rights

2006-03-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

IT'LL ONLY TAKE YOU 2 MINUTES Ministers are attempting to erode your right to participate in Scotland's planning system. Despite high expectations, the reforms proposed by the ministers fail to tackle the imbalance of the current planning system. Worse still, existingrights of involvement for communities in key planning decisions are to be curtailed. We need you to stand up for your rights. We need you to say 'no' to less involvement. To say 'no' to less rights. Instead we need you to say 'yes' to a planning system that is fair for all. Please take 2 minutes to urge your MSPs to press for this draft legislation to be improved. 

  >>> IT'LL ONLY TAKE YOU 2 MINUTES

  http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/cyberaction/cyberaction_200601.html

  Without your help you and your communities face being cut out of Scotland's
  planning system. Unless you act, the only thing you might be allowed to
  comment on in the future will be the colour of the gates of a toxic dump or
  polluting factory. Thanks for your help.

  >>>Please pass this email action alert on to all your friends

What do "we" get out of the Games

2006-03-02T04:54:00.000-08:00

IN 2014, Glasgow intends to host the Commonwealth Games. In 2007 and 2008, Glasgow intends to prepare for that great event by selling off football pitches at Maryhill Road, North Kelvinside; Acre Road, Summerston; and Cowlairs Park, Springburn.Pitches next to recently closed primary schools are also planned to be built over.

Normally cities which host international sporting events squander large sums of money on the razzmatazz - but at least leave their citizens with decent sports facilities as a leftover.

Sydney’s open-to-the-public Olympic swimming pool is world famous for producing swimming champions from out of the Australian working class. But Glasgow plans to buck the trend by being the first city to waste the money but at the same time cut public sports facilities.

SOLD OFF The plans are that a few sports facilities will get a much needed facelift – but many more will be sold off for private housing. And all this is under cover of preparation for the Commonwealth Games.

NORTH KELVINSIDE The pitches at Queen Margaret Drive / Maryhill Road are fully booked.

They are among the few around here with floodlights and changing rooms. But Queens Cross Housing Association has just lodged a planning application to build 100 flats – mostly expensive flats for private sale – on the site where North Kelvinside Secondary School stood. They want the pitches for private housing too. Glasgow City Council has just ruled those pitches ‘surplus to requirements’. What are young people meant to do, if they can’t play football? The Council puts money from land sales ahead of youth concerns.

STOP But we should be able to stop them. With a strong local campaign, a public local planning inquiry can be won Government rules are that pitches should not be closed without creation of new ‘like for like’ provision. And Clouston street is not new provision – that has always been a sports ground.

CLOUSTON STREET / ‘COMPENDIUM’ PARK The Clouston Street pitches are a great success story for the local community.

Ten years ago the Council tried to sell off the pitches for private housing. A huge local campaign forced a public local (planning) inquiry. The inquiry ruled that the Clouston Street pitches must be kept forever. But the victory was not that easy. Glasgow City Council were furious they had lost. They refused to re-open the changing rooms or even maintain the pitches. The pitches became covered with rubbish. Alcoholics and junkies moved in to the old changing rooms – with the Council turning a blind eye. The pitches became covered with used needles and broken bottles.

The City Council hoped to sicken people so much that they would agree to let the site be sold for housing. But local people would not give in. Now they have finally won. £1.25M is to be spent refurbishing Clouston Street Pitches. 20% of the site will be lost to private housing – through (who else!) Queens Cross Housing Association.

But the rest will become a new ‘Compendium Park’, with: a 7 a side football/hockey pitch three multi-courts team based changing accommodation floodlights cricket/golf nets extended jogging track, external fitness area/gym reflection zone for tai chi, yoga (!) climbing wall100m sprint track and warm up area.

The Burgh Angel says: “Well done to local campaigners! They are an example to us all of what can be done with enough determination and staying power. But refurbishment of Clouston Street is not a replacement for the North Kelvinside pitches – we need both facilities in use, just like they were ten years ago. Why should we settle for anything less?”

SAINT AUGUSTINE’S Eight years ago St. Augustine’s Secondary in Milton was closed. Within 48 hours the Council had moved in to demolish the attached swimming baths and changing rooms. The Council had heard that locals were planning to occupy them to save it for the community. A few weeks later, the Council granted planning permission to itself to sell off the entire St. Augustine’s playing fields for private housing. But local people wouldn’t stand for that. Clouston Street campaigners travelled over to offer planning advice. Partick Thistle – who trained on those pitches – gave their support. After a long campaign, a public local planning inquiry was granted. The inquiry lasted a full week – but in the end the Council was beaten. St. Augustine’s pitches were ordered saved forever. Again, the Council were furious. They left the pitches to rot, with no changing rooms, no goalposts, no maintenance. They hoped people would give up and allow the private housing. But local people kept fighting.


Should we start a campaign to oppose Glasgow 2014 because of the great football pitches sell off? We could tell Commonwealth Games Federation Chief Executive Officer Michael Hooper m.hooper@thecgf.com exactly what is going on, and ask him to refuse Glasgow’s 2014 bid because of that. But would that be going too far? Let us know what you think by contacting the Burgh Angel at: St. George’s X Chalkboard, 34 Clarendon Place G20 7PZ, Tel: 0141 332 2902

It's just not tennis!

2006-03-02T04:40:00.000-08:00

Games bid "hit by club sale"
THE SALE of a West End tennis club could have a negative effect on Glasgow's bid for the Commonwealth Games. Campaigners fighting to save Dowanhill Tennis Club have questioned what kind of message its closure would send out to the panel deciding the fate of Glasgow's bid for the Commonwealth Games.Dowanhill is currently on the market, with offers of more that £5million already lodged. Its members would receive as much as £100,000 each if the deal were struck. Billhead Councillor Niall Walker whose ward covers Dowanhill told the Mail that Scottish tennis might have a good chance of winning some medals at the games and that despite the strong pool of players in the West End, there is a shortage of courts.

Niall Walker raised the matter at a council meeting last Thursday, where he ask if the council accepted that the loss of even a single tennis court would send out the wrong signal to the Commonwealth Games bid. He said: 'The Council is trying to promote Glasgow's bid for the Commonwealth Games. I support this bid, and I believe tennis going from strength to strength in Glasgow. "But our players need all the encouragement they can get. Imagine what the Games Panel would think if a tennis club, whose courts are in demand, was closed and flats built on it?" Esther Daborn of the Save Dowanhill Tennis Club Action Group said: "for us it's about the closure of recreational facilities and the effect it would

have on youngsters who may have aspirations to play in the games." Campaigners are also furious the office-bearers at the Dowanhill club have allegedly limited numbers of new members or excluded them from full voting rights. It is also claimed that the office-bearers have rejected offers from other clubs to use Dowanhill's courts, with only two of the four currently being used.
Source West End News

Victoria Park Public meeting

2006-02-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

There will be a public meeting at Scotston, Whiteinch Parish Church this Friday at 7:00 the topic of the meeting will be using up part of Victoria Park for cars. Read about it here
Anger at scheme to tarmac city park for cars

Clouston Street Pitches

2006-02-24T02:04:00.000-08:00

What is happening now ?
Compendium Trust - the developers - are holding a public meeting on 6th March 2006, 7pm, Scout Hall, Kelbourne St to present plans.
Full Planning Application to be lodged in Mid March 06 The Community only have a short time to respond to the plans.
This is very little time to assess the impact in terms of
• Noise Pollution
• Light Pollution
• Parking and traffic implications
and to come up with a well informed community response.

Have your say
Clouston Street Pitches:
cloustonpitches@btinternet.com

What can you do? send an email toThe Community Council...
The Community Council is meant to represent local views email chair@northkelvin.net

The local Councillor...
jim.mckechnie@councillors.glasgow.gov.uk

The Sports Minister Patricia Ferguson.... our local MSP
Patricia.fergusori.msp@scottish.parliamenit.uk

Queens Cross Housing Association. are building houses
as part of this development
contactus@qxha.brg.uk
             !
Sports Scotland is providing funding for the development grant.duncan@sportscotland.org.uk
    
Glasgow City Council
Mne planning consent was granted in 2003
regeneration@glasgow.gov.uk
 
The "Clouston Street Forum" is being set up to coordinate the community response to this development. If you copy your correspondahce to this address it would be helpful Cloustonpitches@btinternet.com

Factory owners charged

2006-02-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

Owners of ICL factory to be prosecuted THE OWNERS of the factory involved in the Maryhill factory blasts are to face criminal charges. The Crown office confirmed last Friday that the owners of the factory are to be prosecuted over the explosion,which killed nine people in May 2004. Both the holding company ICL Plastics Ltd and manufacturing firm ICL Tech Ltd will face charges under health and safety legislation at the High Court. 

The disaster was the worst of its type in Scotland since the Piper Alpha oil rig fire in 1988. Killing Five men and four women and injuring a further 40. Both firms will face allegations they failed to maintain pipes carrying hazardous gas or gases and failed in their duty to safeguard the health and safety of their employees and other people on the factory site. The Crown Office said the prosecution, under the 1974 
Health and Safety Act, was being mounted after considering a report by the procurator fiscal in Glasgow. 

The trial is expected to be held by the end of the year. Last week The Queen recognised the work of fire-fighters who were involved in the rescue attempt at the Stockline Plastics factory in Maryhill. Three Strathclyde Fire and Rescue workers were at Buckingham Palace to attend a reception honouring Britain's emergency workers and disaster response teams. Watch manager Colin McPhee and fire-fighter Maxine McQueer attended the incident, while Karen Wilson took the "major incident" call. The represented the 800 people who participated in the rescue attempt at the scene. Ms McQueer helped to rescue a worker trapped under a beam. She said: "We had to lift rubble and metal beams for half an hour to free one of the survivors." Mr MacPhee said: "We had to claw at the rubble with our bare hands." - West End News

Glasgow Harbour Casino

2006-02-23T14:03:00.000-08:00

Glasgow Harbour plans meet with mixed reaction from local area councillorsTHE REVISED Glas, Harbour plans have met with a mixed reaction from local West End councillors. Speaking to the Mail Cllr for Hayburn, Eamon Fitzgerald said that in general he found locals to be excited by the possibility of the new development. He said: "People are amazed at how the whole thing has taken off. "One hope is that the transport aspects are addressed. There is the possibility of a first class rail and bus development in the area and I understand that Railtrack will want to discuss the proposals with the applicants, must ensure that these developments complement rather than undermine the nearby retail facilities." The revised Glasgow Harbour plans were unveiled last week when they were submitted to Glasgow City Council for approval. They include a massive new casino and hotel, a two tier shopping mall, a thirty story residential tower and a 10 screen cinema and family entertainment centre. However Liberal Democrat Cllr for Hillhead Niall Walker said that at a time when so much parkland was under-threat from development what the council should be doing is promoting the "dear green place." He said: "It is a great shame that the developers of the Glasgow Harbour The proposed site of the new £1 billion Glasgow Harbour development don't think about the environment. "Imagine a pleasant walkway incorporating a new park area along the banks of the Clyde. "Instead they want a super casino, what a horrible thought. Casinos only suck money out of the economy, provide a few unskilled jobs and are associated with money laundering. What sort of reputation does Glasgow want?" The revisied plans are now avaiable for viewing and any members of the public wishing to view them should visit the councils Development and Regeneration Services, Development Control at 229 George Street. kenneth.angove@west-endmail.co.uk • What do you think about the Glasgow Harbour plans e-mail or call us at the usual number. West End News

Some words on development from M

2006-02-11T14:55:00.000-08:00

Personally, I have nothing in principal against modernist buildings. I’m right into all that space age stuff. I love looking at those drawings. As they exist in the mind of the architect. But then there’s wee Mrs McLean and her shopping trolley, popping doon to the Eileen’s local shop for a couple of well-fired rolls, an Evening Times and a natter. Except it takes her half an hour to traverse the car park and the futurist street furniture, and when she gets there Eileen’s offski, and the wee shops been turned into a deli and Mrs McLean isnae a big fan of ciabata.
Picture: http://www.futureglasgow.co.uk/Demolition/Anderston.jpg 

Yes, we know you like your homes, yes we know theres a waiting list to get them, yes we know there’s nothing wrong with the fabric of the building, but, well, we’ve got plans for your area, and your homes kind of get in the way. They just don’t look nice enough. They’ll lower the tone of the new area. And the new residents in their trendy new penthouses, we have to think of them now, don’t we. Anyway, we know what’s best for you. We’ve got a masterplan”. Whats that you say? Just tidy the area up a bit, a bit ofgreenery? Are you mad? We’ve got £50 million to spend!


A majority of tenants voted to transfer management of their homes from the Scottish Homes quango in March 2005. Sanctuary Housing Association promised a “regeneration solution for over 480 properties on the Anderston estate which includes new housing for all tenants and residents who want to remain in the community.” Presumably those who don’t want to be regenerated can just bugger off.
http://www.sanctuary-housing.co.uk/New+Developments/

From Scottish Housing News, 02/02/06 www.scottishhousingnews.com
<href="http://www.scottishhousingnews.com/"> 


GO-AHEAD FOR £50m PLANS IN GLASGOW

A £50m project that will see the demolition of almost 500 flats to make way for 478 new homes has been given the green light from council planners in Glasgow.

Th scheme, developed by Sanctuary Housing Association, will replace the 1960s dwellings with modern homes as part of a five-year programme.

Around 150 local residents protested against the plans for the former Anderston Cross, claiming there is no need to demolish their homes. A spokesperson for the residents said: "We know our homes are wind and water-tight and are habitable and do not need to be demolished."

However, a report before the council's development and regeneration sub-committee said: "A number of people have objected to the proposal on the grounds that it would be a waste of public money.

"Despite the problems of persuading all residents of the merits of the proposal, it is considered that the masterplan represents a sound basis for the physical redevelopment of the area."

A spokesman for Sanctuary Scotland Housing Association added: "We have submitted exciting proposals which we believe will improve the lives of the Anderston community."

- - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -

By the way, ever check out skyscraper city? Occasionally interesting news on construction/demolition in Glasgow on this thread:

<http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=212764&page=1>
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=212764&page=1

And then theres:

http://www.futureglasgow.co.uk/Demolition_Summary.html

More on Green spaces

2006-02-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

More Articles on green spaces in the Herald

For more than 100 years, Glasgow's bowling greens, sports clubs and parks have given the city's people a chance to relax, play or just take a weekend stroll. Now concern is growing for these dear green places as more and more are lost forever. In some areas, especially the sought-after west end, a tennis-court- sized piece of land can be worth up to £6m, which means vacant space is at a premium for any kind of development.
Last week, Victoria Park in Scotstoun became the latest to be threatened. Glasgow City Council plans to build a car park with 600 spaces on disused sports pitches, fell up to 20 trees and construct a new access road and driveway through the park.
The decision provoked consternation among local people and pressure groups, who say that, one by one, their recreation areas are disappearing.
Audrey Gardner, of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland, believes the green patches laid out by the Victorian designers are a vital foundation of its character.
"Green spaces were a huge part of the character of the area," she says. "These are popular with developers and are now undoubtedly being targeted. We are up against a policy of 'densification'."
For residents in the west of Glasgow, the Victoria Park plans are just the latest concern. Strathclyde University recently agreed to sell Jordanhill College, the 41-acre site that has been home to teacher-training for more than 80 years. Students and staff will move to a £52m purpose-built building in the city centre.
But local people are concerned that any large-scale housing developments on the playing fields at Jordanhill, would mark another significant loss of green space.
The issue nationally has provoked the Scottish Executive to recommend national minimum standards be established to provide open spaces around new housing, shopping and industrial developments.
Research commissioned by the executive has suggested a new Scottish planning policy be introduced. Currently, there are no national guidelines on the provision of open spaces – planning committees and officials deal with each case on its merits. A new policy could mean an end to confusion among local authorities over how much open space, and what kind, is required.
Glasgow's city plan, which is currently under review, ensures the green spaces the council deems most important, in terms of wildlife, plants and landscape, are protected. The guidelines set a target of approximately 12 acres of recreational green space per 1000 people within the plan's 20-year timeframe.
Robert McBean, convener of the council's development applications sub-committee, did not want to comment on specific cases but said the quantity and quality of green spaces in the city had actually improved.
"The regenerated new neighbourhoods, such as Gorbals, Oatlands and Drumchapel, are all about delivering more green space, which is of a better quality," he said. "Under the council's policies, any green space removed (by a development) has to be replaced elsewhere and we have been strict about that."
However, John Mason, the council's SNP opposition leader and a member of the planning committee, said the rules were still weighted in favour of developers. "We have green spaces being eaten away all the time and I am suspicious of that. The guidelines need to be tightened up. 
"The council can get developers to pay a penalty if they don't create enough green space. But the council accepts that payment too readily.
"I feel there should be a presumption against any proposed developments. We have no third-party right of appeal and things are far too slanted in favour of developers."

One by one, owners have been tempted into turning over land for development. In Glasgow's west end alone, the list is a long one. Woodend Tennis and Bowling Club in Jordanhill has sold off some courts to make way for a row of townhouses. The struggling club agreed to sell the land for nine homes to pay off debts. 
North Kelvinside lies between the River Kelvin and the Forth and Clyde Canal and is now also at the centre of a row over the possible sale of football pitches for housing.
However, it is Glasgow's Dowanhill, and the potential sale of its tennis club, where the issues are most vividly put into focus.
The club members stand to receive £100,000 if their land is sold to developers. Campaigners against the move include MSPs Pauline McNeill, Bill Aitken and Patrick Harvie, who have warned that Glasgow's green spaces are disappearing before our eyes.
Ms McNeill has urged the lord advocate to step in to investigate the sale of the club as it could be saved if it is classified as a community trust.
"I appreciate Glasgow has good provision in the number of parks and gardens," she says, "but I have become increasingly concerned at the number of sports grounds being sold for development.
"In my own constituency, the area is already crammed with buildings and some of the green space is under threat. I want stronger protection for the green spaces that exist."
The council's financial services committee has said it will ensure recreation areas are retained for the public good through tax relief.
It has recommended clubs receive relief on their non-domestic rates bills only if their constitutions are amended to require that any surplus income, or gains, will be reinvested in the club or passed to another. 
Ewan Kennedy of the Glasgow Green Space Trust, founded last year to preserve recreational ground, says action is needed now. "These recreational spaces were a fundamental part of the fabric of living in Victorian Glasgow. It is horrendous that so many are being lost or threatened. Developing on the sites is akin to putting up a block of flats in the New Town in Edinburgh.
"We have areas that were an integral part of Victorian and Edwardian Glasgow and they are being allowed to disappear almost overnight."/span>

Letters from today's Herald on the erosion and destruction of parks and green spaces

2006-02-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

Letters dealing with the issue of green spaces and city parks being sold off, built over and run down by Glasgow City Council.

Thank you for raising concerns on February 6 about the proposed destruction of part of Victoria Park [pictured] to create a car-park.
Glasgow City Council's promotion of this ridiculous idea and its declared intention to sell off the pitches in North Kelvinside raise serious issues of governance. Glasgow is striving to rid itself of a reputation as the unhealthiest city in Europe. How does this balance with a civic policy supporting the disappearance of sporting and recreational facilities?
Glasgow has a huge problem with childhood obesity and inactivity. How does a civic policy supporting the disappearance of sporting and recreational facilities deal with this?
There is concern about the resurgence of gang culture and the conduct of disaffected youth. How does a civic policy supporting the disappearance of sporting and recreational facilities tackle this?
Glasgow needs to be repopulated and must promote itself as an attractive, vibrant hometown for young people and families. How can a civic policy supporting the disappearance of sporting and recreational facilities help in this task?
I have real fears that the people running Glasgow, at both a political and a bureaucratic level, have completely lost the plot. The people of Glasgow must wake up and smell the roses before our open spaces are tarmacked over. These plans cannot be allowed to go ahead and Glaswegians must take heed and react to these warnings about the failure of local governance. A lot of effort must be expended in establishing effective and demanding community groups that can pressurise the local politicians and local authority employees into producing real answers.
Aye, that'll be right. But, hey, I am a Glaswegian, I live in hope.
Allan McKay, 4 Marlborough Avenue, Glasgow.
 
THE proposed loss of a large portion of Victoria Park is just par for the course in the city of Glasgow. Like so many other aspects of parks and recreation infrastructure, the football pitches that the council intends to tarmac have been neglected for a very long time. Such neglect either leaves resources open to asset-stripping or excessive costs to put right. Some cases in point are the Doulton and Stewart fountains (Glasgow Green and Kelvingrove), the main entrance to Kelvingrove Park at the head of Kelvingrove Street and the park in Garnethill. Both fountains were left to rot for years by the city council until vast amounts of cash were needed for refurbishment.
David Stevenson, 47 Cairns Road, Cambuslang.
 
FROM Monday's articles, it seems that Glasgow should perhaps be rebranded as "the more dear, less green, place".
Andrew A Reid, 33 Beverley Road, Glasgow.

Legal battle at tiny boat club over rights to landing bank

2006-01-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

Pic. Jim Gillespie at the Dumbarton Club's site

Legal battle at tiny boat club over rights to landing bank
YOU will find no expensive yachts or speedboats, nor extortionate joining fees for the privilege of taking to these waters.
For members, there is only one request: just £2 a week, half of it for electricity, the other half for teabags.
But now a community boating club which has been based in one of Scotland's most deprived areas for generations faces eviction after being taken to court by an offshore company in what one MSP describes as an act of "grand land theft".

Beriston Ltd, based in the British Virgin Islands, is behind plans by Turnberry Homes for housing on the banks of the River Leven, in Dunbartonshire.

The company owns the strip of riverside land, but the title deed is one of a several granted erroneously by a Scottish Executive agency.

The club says the ground belongs to the townsfolk under a charter granted to the burgh of Dumbarton by King James VI in the seventeenth century. It is now contesting the case in the Court of Session.

Members of Dumbarton Motor Boat and Sailing Club say that, should the land be sacrificed for housing, it will sound the death-knell for the last affordable boating group in the region.

Beriston has already served an interdict ensuring the club's members are not allowed access to the yard, with fences cordoning off the area.

One member, Jim Gillespie, 49, who retired from marine engineering due to ill-health, said the club counts "pensioners, retired folk, disabled people, kids" among its 50 or so members.

It is an area with a proud shipbuilding heritage where, he stresses, the people are inextricably connected with the river.

Our members can't afford to use a private marina to go sailing," he said. "If this goes ahead, it'll take away the river from working-class people." He added: "Some of the kids have wee cheap boats. They're only worth a couple of hundred pounds, but they think they're priceless.

"We've been here since the 1960s, and people have been going down to the river for generations . . . My great-greatgrandfather was involved in the-then Dumbarton Boat Club and my father won cups for rowing."

The fault, Mr Gillespie believes, lies with the Registers of Scotland, an executive agency responsible for land and property registers. He is trying to press West Dunbartonshire Council to cite the charter to reclaim the title deeds.

It is understood register officials were unaware of the royal charter's existence, when they registered titles to portions of the Leven in recent years. The charter stipulates that the local community has full rights to the Leven and its banks. It is understood there are at lease 10 erroneously registered titles to the area, including one wrongly attributed to Scottish Enterprise for its Loch Lomond Shores development.

The Herald has revealed that about £1.8bn of common good assets have been "lost, illegally alienated and neglected" by local authorities.

Frances Curran, Scottish Socialist MSP for the West of Scotland, said that were the court to find in Beriston's favour, it would be tantamount to "grand land theft". She said: "It's unbelievable how these tide deeds have fallen into the hands of companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and big business."

Cameron Fyfe, a partner at Ross Harper specialising in human rights, has taken on the case of the club's members, "We believe the charter from i 1609 is still in force today." The executive confirmed that officials at Registers of Scotland are holding discussions with the council over titles on the Leven. The local authority has even floated the possibility of using compulsory purchase orders to regain possession of certain title deeds.

A spokesman for West Dunbartonshire Council said the "ball is in Turnberry Homes' court just now. "They have been asked by the council to define exactly where and what they are proposing to do and the council will then consider that proposal."

John Heath, land and development director for Turnberry Homes, said as the matter had been taken to the Court of Session, "Turnberry Homes is unable to comment further". Aileen Low, the solicitor representing Beriston at the Court of Session, declined to comment.

Source Martin McLaughlin Herald Jan 28

North Kelvin Community Council, North Kelvinside,West End Glasgow

2006-01-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

North Kelvin Community Council, North Kelvinside,West End Glasgow: "Save NK Pitches"
Councillor Jim MacKechnie joins North Kelvin Community Council (NKCC) and the North Glasgow Football Development Group (NGFDG) in opposing in the strongest possible terms,Glasgow City Council's decision to list the football piches at the top of Queen Margaret Drive as 'surplus to requirements', paving the way for their sell-off and development .

Council launches transport survey

2006-01-26T13:25:00.000-08:00

GLASGOW City Council launched a major consultation exercise this week, which aims to explore the future of local transport within the city.The consultation addresses key issues such as parking enforce-ment, development of cycle lanes, prioritisation of public transport, pedestrian access in the city centre, road safety and traffic pollution and gives the public the chance to contribute to the strategy. Lord Provost Liz Cameron and William O'Rourke, the city's Roads Convener, led by example by being the first to complete their questionnaire at the library and learning centre at GoMA. Lord Provost Liz Cameron said: "The pub-lic are bound to have their own opinion of the kind of transport facilities they would like to see. "I'm sure they will jump at the chance to have their say and help shape the council's ongoing plans to deliver improved services across the city over the next few years.

 Councillor William O'Rourke added: "The council is committed to providing quality transport to its residents, visitors and the thousands of people commuting to and from the city on a daily basis. That's why we want them to get involved so we can make the changes they want to see." The findings will help shape the council's Local Transport Strategy to be submitted to the Scottish Executive later in the year.

The last transport consultation completed in November 2000 demonstrated the importance and value of the initiative, with many of the concerns raised by the public leading to positive investment in local transport now and for the future.

 In 2000, the public were overwhelmingly in favour of public transport receiving priority over cars and lorries and wanted more information for passengers. As a result GGC, in partnership with First, has developed and is implementing streamline a ground-breaking priority bus system that provides faster, more frequent bus services and offers pas-sengers real-time updates on the progress of each streamline service at their bus stop. "Streamline demonstrates succinctly the importance of the 2006 Consultation and the direct link between public opinion and Council investment. Councillor O'Rourke continued: "Additionally, 88 per cent of responses to the questionnaire for the previous Local Transport Strategy either "Agreed" or "Strongly Agreed" that residents should have priority over commuters for on-road parking. From this, we imple-mented eight new Restricted and Controlled Parking Zones in areas that suffered heavily from commuter parking. These schemes have been successful in providing local residents priority to on-road parking spaces over commuters."

The council, in partnership with First, has been responsible for implementing Streamline on eight bus routes across Glasgow, including from Maryhill Road to Tollcross Road and Great Western Road to Clarkston Road. The consultation period is open until March and the questionnaire is available online at the Council website, or to order free reply-paid paper copies by calling 0800 027 7362.

Source West End Mail

Proposals to boost parks sought

2006-01-26T13:02:00.000-08:00

COMMENTS WELCOME
_____________________________

Proposals to boost parks sought GLASGOW City Council have called on companies to submit their ideas to develop visitor facilities in parks through out the city, including Kelvingrove and the Botanic Gardens.A proposal was made by the council that a number of documents be published in order to invite ideas for the development of visitor facilities in Glasgow's parks. The documents are to assess the relevance of interest from companies in applying for leases and franchises in such parks as the Botanic Gardens, Kelvingrove Park, Queen's Park, Victoria Park, Springburn Park, Tollcross Park, Pollok Country Park, Bellahouston Park and Glasgow Green. In September 2005, a report was approved by the Parks and Facilities Committee, which outlined proposals to improve visitor facilities in parks.

According to the proposal "the documents are intended to outline what is considered to be 'acceptable development' within the context of each specific area." Each document will outline the historic relevance of each park and the customer facilities which would be acceptable within each area. Existing buildings within each of the parks which could be utilised instead of them lying unused will be detailed.

These buildings will be leased by the council rather than sold. In a report by Robert Booth, Director of Land Council seek proposals to attract visitors to city's parks Services, he stated: "the development of visitor and community services would be subject to a positive outcome in community consultation." He went on to write: "It is hoped to stimulate interest in a variety of sectors of the community and facilitate the development of local economic opportunities. Positive discussions have already taken place with Local Development Companies to ascertain the possibilities of social enterprises taking up options to operate in parks." The documents will offer no commitment to contract with any individual proposer or developer. 

Source West end Mail

Scotlands green campaigns

2006-01-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

Scotsman Use "Bugmenot" to get in

Bristol pool ocupied

2006-01-22T13:28:00.000-08:00

A group of protesters have occupied the site of the former Bristol North swimming bath on Gloucester Road.The group entered the building in the early hours of Saturday demanding the building is reopened to provide a non-commercial space for the community.

More of the commons under threat

2006-01-22T09:05:00.000-08:00

The Canongate Community Forum claim the proposed Caltongate scheme, which includes offices, shops and a five-star hotel, would be built on land belonging to the people of Edinburgh. Critics have obtained a century-old map which marks out land to be held in the "common good".

SUPERMARKET giant Tesco is facing a storm of protest

2005-12-23T05:59:00.000-08:00

over its plan for a  massive development in Glasgow's west end.
The UK's biggest supermarket firm wants to build a huge store on vacant land together with six blocks of student flats and a leisure centre. If permission is granted it would be the biggest supermarket for miles and  the flats would house more than 1300 students.
On Tuesday the Evening Times revealed how the firm wanted to build on land between Beith Street and the railway line close to the bottom of Byres Road.
The giant Tesco store would create 350 jobs, have 600 underground parking spaces, and stock a full range of food, electrical and household goods as well as the firm's Florence and Fred clothing range.
Network Rail and Glasgow Harbour have already protested.
Now residents, the councillor for Partick and the community council are also  bitterly opposed to Tesco's masterplan.
Concerns over the scale of the development, the impact on already congested roads and fears for trade in nearby Dumbarton Road have led to objections.
Partick Councillor, Aileen Colleran, said she has been contacted by a string of angry constituents after they were alerted to the plan by the Evening Times.
She said: "I think the site isn't suitable for a major supermarket and the proposal for student housing is completely unacceptable. It would be literally a blot on the landscape. I would urge Tesco to think again."
Resident Samer Bagaeen, who lives close to the site, is one of many  objectors.
He said: "The majority of the local community on both sides of the Kelvin have written to the council to object to the original proposal for this mammoth development.
"It not only dwarfs everything around it but also pays no attention nor  respect to the site, the river and Partick."
Another local resident, Scott Cameron, of Ferry Road, said: "The layout of the student accommodation will block natural daylight and sunlight.
"Increased congestion would make local roads more dangerous for pedestrians  and cyclists."
Dr Amera Ammari, also ofFerry Road, added: "The proposed development at seven storeys above the supermarket level is out of scale with everything that surrounds it including existing homes.
"Motorists trying to get into the store car park would increase present  congestion levels on Beith Street at peak times."
And Peter Henderson, of Coopers Well Street, said: "The development currently proposed is totally inappropriate for this particular site and for the surrounding area."

Publication date 22/12/05


© Evening Times


----

Tesco in bid to build new Glasgow west end superstore
by Stewart Paterson

© Evening Times
Originally published: 20.12.2005

SUPERMARKET giant Tesco is planning to build a huge superstore in the west  end of Glasgow.

Around 350 full and part-time jobs are expected to be created at the store  close to the bottom of Byres Road.

Tesco hopes to attract shoppers from all over the west of the city and will  have 600 parking spaces underground.

The store will be one of the biggest in Glasgow, stocking a full range of food, electrical and household goods as well as the firm's Florence and Fred clothing range.

The plans also include a major residential development of 1300 student flats in six blocks, each seven storeys high, and 300 private flats.

Tesco, already the biggest operator in Britain, is looking to increase its  profile in Scotland.

The group plans to expand its Scottish operation, adding to its 86 stores which employ 22,500 workers, and has already agreed a deal to move its Pollok store to a new shopping complex being built nearby.

If given the go-head the Partick store will be even bigger than Tesco's huge 24-hour store at St Rollox in Springburn - 7435sq. m compared to St Rollox's 6552sq. m.

The superstore will dwarf other supermarkets in the area and provide strong  competition in the fight for customers.

Morrisons has a store at Partick, just a few hundred yards away and  Sainsbury and Somerfield also have smaller stores nearby.

Morrisons declined to comment on the possibility of a rival opening a bigger  store right on its doorstep.

Exact details of the development and opening hours will not be decided until  after full planning permission is granted.

A Tesco spokesman said: "We're meeting the council early next year to  discuss the overall development.

"The store, if approved, will offer the full range of products that are  available in other major Tesco outlets."

Tesco's Glasgow-based agents, Development Planning Partnership, said bosses were currently talking with university officials about the student flats which would include a leisure centre and union.

The proposal, however, faces opposition from two major organisations.

Glasgow Harbour and Network Rail object to the proposal for one of the few remaining large undeveloped sites in the west of the city.

The land, between Beith Street and the railway line adjacent to the Clydeside Expressway was occupied for many years by a scrap metal dealer.

Glasgow Harbour has said increased traffic from the supermarket would impact on the road network associated with its development.

Meanwhile, Network Rail is insisting that it owns part of the site, which is  close to the railway line.

Update on the Occupation of 34 Broadway Market

2005-12-19T01:58:00.000-08:00

The meeting saw a level of attendance which pleased the organisers, and which shocked Hackney Council and other attendees.

University to sell off Jordanhill Campus

2005-12-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

STRATHCLYDE University has this week confirmed that it is to sell its Jordanhill Campus and move to the city centre.

Bosses at the University have recommended the sale of the 41 acre Jordanhill Campus, which houses the University's teacher training college as well as their science sports, music and social work departments. Part of the land will be sold to property developers.
A new £52million building will be situated at either Rottenrow or the former Albion street car park.

Principal Andrew Hamnett announced that the preferred option instead of rebuilding and refurbishing the building was to sell the site and move.
He said that this was the cheaper option and that it was in the "best academic interests of the staff and students."
Dr Peter West, secretary of the university and chairman of its estates steering group forwarded the recommendation which will be considered on 24 January by the ruling court.Local residents are expected to oppose any large scale housing development over the playing fields.

Recently Anniesland College announced that it was to move from its current location to Jordanhill campus. Local residents were angered by the possibility that this relocation may have included building on top of the local playing fields.
A statement from the college announced: "As a Community College we strive to be a good neighbour, as demonstrated by a very good relationship with our local Community Council, and are very sensitive to the concerns and anxieties that any new dvelopment proposal brings to an area.

"That is why we have taken the time to fully explore the options that are available for building on the Jordanhill site in order to minimise any disruption to the local community.
"We hope to complete this appraisal in the very near future and indicate our preferred location for the new College building on the site."
Graham Roddick, estates director at the University.   Said:   "The Anniesland College
Jordanhill Campus amounts to 41 acres and we anticipate that 26 acres could potentially be used by   a   combination   of and/or residential.
"There is currently 15 acres of open space and any proposals should maintain that level."

Parents light to save Belhaven nursery posts

2005-12-15T06:01:00.000-08:00

ANGRY parents are fighting to save the jobs of two qualified teachers at their children's nursery school.


The parents are angry that two teachers from Belhaven Nursery in North Kelvinside are to be re-deployed and replaced at the school by less qualified nursery assistants.
The re-deployment is part of a cost-cutting exer-cise.The council plans to get rid of a total of 37 nursery teachers across the city, in order to cut two per cent from the education budget.
Belhaven cares for 50 children full-time and many more part-time.
At present there are two teachers and a head teacher employed at the nursery. Head teacher Gillian Kulwicki, has been joined by parents in her fight to save her two colleagues.
Under the proposals Shena McDonald - a nursery and early years specialist and Anne O'Grady, who has a qualification in special education, will be replaced by less qualified nursery assistants.
The teachers have around 60 years' experi-
ence between them.
Kevin McLaughlin, whose five-year-old son Joseph attends the nursery is furious.
He said: "my son's autistic, these teachers and their early intervention helped immensely to diagnose and help him.
"You simply can't put a price on their experience; it's been invaluable I can't praise them enough."
Purveen Rasul, from North Kelvinside whose four-year-old son Abdullah-Ali attends the nursery, said her family had been coming to the school for generations.
"Our first languages are
Punjabi and Urdu and the nursery is the first place our kids come across English." She said.
"The teachers here order in specialist material for them, the nursery has been invaluable to our family over the years, I think that moving two teachers on and replacing them with less experienced staff is terrible."
A council spokesman has said: "As part of the budget process a number of proposals are being considered. However, no decision will be taken until the proposals have gone out to public consultation." Source: West End News

Battle to save 'community garage'

2005-12-14T01:31:00.000-08:00

Broadway market - two weeks on

2005-12-13T04:55:00.000-08:00

Café Francesca in Broadway Market, Hackney has been occupied for two weeks by local people to prevent it's demolition by property developer Dr Roger Wratten and conversion into luxury flats.

Councils And Housing Chiefs Failing Tenants - Deprived areas are not receiving proper environmental services

2005-12-13T04:46:00.000-08:00

People living in Scotland's most deprived areas are not receiving the environmental services needed to keep communities clean and tidy.  A study by Glasgow University and the Joseph Rowntree foundation said that local authorties were not meeting the street cleaning, and waste collection demands of poorer communities.The study said that deprived neighbourhoods were more difficult to maintian and more prone to environmental problems due to high-rise buildings, large open spaces and higher population density.  Run down housing schemes in Scotland are struggling against problems like graffiti, fly-tipping, litter and the poor maintenance of public spaces.  The study points out that local  authorities are failing these communities by not routinely deploying sufficient resources that are needed to tackle the rising environmental problems of inner city areas.
The research showed that residents in these areas are increasingly becoming resigned to the poor qualiuty of their envrionment, as they watch their communities being systematically run down due to council neglect.
The researchers suggest that local authorities should routinely target enhanced services - such as more frequent street cleaning - towards deprived neighbourhoods as a way of re-energising residents, helping to kick-start further improvements and begin to reverse the cycle of decline.
It's a decline that has been too long ingnored by those in national and local government, as they have let our communities fal in to their current state of disrepair.
This can be seen in cities like Glasgow, where whole schemes have been left to go to ruin by the bodies put in place to maintain them.
As a result of the Scottish Executive's muich heralded Stock Transfer in the city, which was won on the promise of of improving the cities antiquated housing stock, the Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) has left some of its tenants living in deplorable conditions.
GHA claim that iut is improving housing in Glasgow, but that is only if you are oje of the lucky ones.
As part of their regeneration plans they have earmarked whole streets of tenements and high rise blocks for demolition.
However they have not declared when many of these buildings will be coming down.
Instead they have left tenants in these homes without any promise to improve the conditions they are forced to live in.
As tenants move out of these houses they are not being replaced with new ones.  GHA are boarding them up and leaving them to rot - it is not unusual to see a tenement building with five out of the six houses in a close lying empty, while tenants are left marooned in the remaining occupied flat.
These houses have become targets for vandalism and arson attacks, as all community spirit in areas becomes buried under the uncut gardens and litter.
The mantra og GHA seems to be, if they're going to be demolished then why worru about the conditions people are forced to live in.
However, it has not stopped them continuing to deman upwards of £220 per month from tenants for the privilege of staying in these condemned properties.

[Scottish Socialist Voice, Issue 241, 11th-17th November]

Campaigners attack council consultation

2005-12-08T03:41:00.000-08:00

CAMPAIGNERS battling to save several primary schools across the west end have attacked the city council's consultation process. The Save Our Schools (SOS) campaign have claimed that Glasgow City Council have failed to consult local residents and parents with children not old enough to attend schools, who will be affected by the closure of the schools.

SOS spokesperson Andy Harvey said: "The consultation is supposed to be genuine, comprehen-sive and inclusive. However, only parents who presently have children at the concerned schools have received consultation packs, and even some of those parents are still waiting. 

 Mr Harvey went to say that the plans for the closure of the schools, which will be amalgamated into one "super-sized school", would increase class sizes and "rip the hearts out of local communities." Schools that are set to merge into a proposed single primary and nursery on a gap-site at the corner of Otago Street and Gibson Street, are Dowanhill, Kelvinhaugh, Billhead, Willowbank primary alongside two nurseries. 

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council stated: "we welcome the views expressed of any interested parties." They went on to state that the consultation process for the amalgamation of the schools had been widely publicised through widespread newspaper and media coverage while the phase four ol school merger consultations are also available foi viewing on the council's official website along with a list of public meetings. A bus was also supplied to take any concerned parents to view a newly built school in another area of the city, which was according to the council, "by no means full."

 Cllr for Partick, Aileen Colleran said: "One look at a consultation form shows the range of people the council recognises as having an interest - with categories including residents, staff, friends, as well as parents. "Forms are made available, can be downloaded from the web, and officers have said in meetings the forms aren't essential to make views known - an email or letter is fine, just as long as it's in writing." Cllr Colleran went to point out posting a form to every parent and resident in each area was impractical. She also stated that there was no indication that the school sites would be sold off to private housing developers. She added that she felt that the proposals were widely known from the number of members of the public who have shown at the meetings who were not parents. 

 Hillhead Cllr, Niall Walker stated: "Although there were a number of public meetings I felt that the Education Dept was short on details when it came to the many questions they were asked. "I don't think they have properly thought through the implications for traffic. "They also haven't chosen an ideal site. Gibson St is a very busy street and I don't see how it could deal with more traffic that the school would cause." source: West end news

Stars back Kelvingrove bandstand revival

2005-12-08T03:25:00.000-08:00

THREE of Scotland's most popular bands are to support the restoration of the old bandstand in Kelvingrove Park. Scottish acts such as Franz Ferdinand, Teenage Fanclub and Belle and Sebastian have agreed to support the restoration plan, thought to be in the region of £500,000 for the Kelvingrove bandstand which has held concerts for the likes of Wet Wet Wet, Hue and Cry and Deacon Blue, in the past. 

Costing £3500, the bandstand was built in 1924 and proved to be a popular venue military band concerts. It was closed in 1998 after it was deemed to be structurally unsafe. Of course it should be saved," said Alex Kapranos, of Franz Ferdinand. "What an amazing venue it would be," he said. "It's such a fantastic Glasgow landmark, and it's a great wasted opportunity. It's in such a beautiful setting, and (restoring) it could really enrich the city's cultural scene. To see it crumble would be a waste." Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian remembers seeing bands such as Hue And Cry and Tom Robinson perform at a "crammed" bandstand in the 1980s. He said: "I look upon it as one of the spiritual parts of the west end. I dig the bandstand as much when there's nothing going on, which is all the time now, as when there was stuff going on. It's got a magical atmosphere."

The bands have joined the campaign of Friends of Kelvingrove Park who have prepared a business plan which highlights the potential of the bandstand to be used in such annual Stars hope to attract big crowds back to the bandstand at Kelvingrove in the future events as Shakespeare in the Park, concerts and theatre performances. Ed Gillett, the group's secretary will meet Council officials from the parks department at some point this month to discuss the future of the bandstand. 

 Kenny Boyle, head of Glasgow's parks, backed the Friends but did not rule out private involvement in the refurbishment if their plan did not come to fruition. He explained: "I want a bandstand that attracts people and is sustainable and doesn't start to fall into disrepair because a number of people spend all their money organising a concert and it gets rained off." source: West end news

Successful residents' campaign to save much loved local pub in Tottenham

2005-12-07T02:35:00.000-08:00

After 3 months of campaigning by local residents and users of the Fountain Pub in West Green Rd, N15 the Council finally conceded that it can't allow such a well-used local community facility to be demolished or turned into yet another a block of flats. The Fountain Pub has been declared to be 'a valuable community facility',
and hence its loss would be 'contrary to Policy CW3 'Protecting Existing
Community Facilities' [from the Council's revised Unitary Development Plan,
2004 - see at end]. This was the most significant of the four points on
which the proposal was rejected. For example, the loss of the Fountain
would also 'seriously detract from the important character' of the
surrounding conservation area.

This recognition that a pub can be 'a valuable community facility' is
believed to have set a precedent which will save other valued community
pubs around Haringey which have increasingly been threatened by developers.
Many have already been lost, with the Council refusing to acknowledge their
importance as facilities for local communities - eg for social interaction,
venues for live music, pub sports and events, often with meeting rooms,
bak gardens and other key features.

Ths great victory was achieved despite Council officers recommending
support in December 2004 for a previous, similar application to build flats
on the site.

Residents mobilised in the following ways to save The Fountain:

1. Clyde Area Residents Association started a petition in the autumn,
getting hundreds of signatures.

2. Around 20 local residents and Fountain users attended an official
'Development Control Forum' . A PR person for the applicants extolled the
virtues of the proposed block of flats, but people present were angry and
made it clear that they were determined to save the pub. At the end of the
meeting a 'Save The Fountain' campaign was hurriedly set up. The campaign
got front page publicity in the local press. As well as local residents
associations, the Board of West Green Learning Neighbourhood, Haringey
Solidarity Group and Tottenham Traders offered support.

3. A public meeting was organised for the end of October. 4000 leaflets
were distributed door to door encouraging people to attend and to write to
the planning dept calling for the pub to be saved (very many people did
that). 40 residents attended the meeting. Someone also attended from Save
The Oakdale Arms, a residents' campaign for another much-loved pub under
threat from developers in South Tottenham. Save The Oakdale had collected
600 protest signatures and got active support from the local HOBA Residents
Association and Haringey Trades Union Council. At the public meeting a
proposal to hold a protest march from one pub to the other was well
supported. It was agreed to wait to see whether the objections made by the
Save The Oakdale people would be successful at the forthcoming Planning
Applications Sub-Cttee, despite Council officers recommending the pub be
demolished.


4. The Councillors on the Planning Sub-Cttee wavered, and threw out the
application mainly on the grounds of the design of the proposed flats. The
issue was fudged. However, it was clear that the community was winning the
argument that the 2 pubs must be saved as vital local community facilities.

5. Campaigners discussed whether to go ahead with the march before the end
of the year. Woodlands Park Residents Association, West Green RA, Chestnuts
Northside RA and the Haringey Federation of Residents Associations all
agreed to back the march... but this depended on what was happening with
The Fountain application.

6. It was rumoured that Council officers were beginning to waver, and were
going to reject the Fountain application themselves, rather than it go to
the Planning Cttee. But there were concerns they might only reject it on
the details of the design, which would allow the developers (for both pubs)
to keep coming back with revised proposals until they got the go ahead.
Officers and Councillors were lobbied - they were left in no doubt that a
matter of principle was at stake, that people across the borough were
watching and that further protests were planned.

In the end common sense, intelligent and determined lobbying, and people
power triumphed!

However, it is important to remain vigilant and to continue to support
local residents and communities opposing any future applications which
threaten either of the two pubs - or other much-needed community facilities
around the borough.

Dave Morris
- member of Chestnuts Northside Residents Association, N15 and the Save The
Fountain campaign
4.12.05


Note:

Haringey Council's emerging Unitary Development Plan [revised 2004]
(p165-6) states:

a. [para 10.1] ' Good community facilities are essential to the fabric of a
successful, healthy and inclusive society.'
b. [para 10.4] The Council's Key Objective is: 'To increase the stock of
good quality community facilities in Haringey, especially in areas of
shortage, and to improve existing facilities'.
c. [para 10.13] ' The change of use or demolition of a community facility
will only be granted planning permission in the following circumstances:
- if the facility is derelict or out of use, and no other community groups
are willing or able to use it
- if the community facility is in use [and] alternative accomodation [for
it] is provided [by the developer].'

The Re-Occupation by Anthony Iles & Benedict Seymour

2005-12-05T03:44:00.000-08:00

An interesting bunch of links, concerning regeneration in the East End of London, and more importantly how people are fighting back: In protest against evictions, sell offs and corruption in Hackney east  London, a group of locals, activists and squatters this week reoccupied  a café, successfully preventing its demolition by developers. Anthony  Iles reports on this unusual counter-attack against the neoliberal  ‘regeneration’ of the city Broadway Market is a victorian street in Hackney, an increasingly  fashionable borough in the east end of London. The street runs  picturesquely from London Fields down to the Regent’s canal. A short  stroll from the trendy bars of Hoxton and Shoreditch, over the last few  years it has developed its own rash of middle-class boutiques, delis  and gastropubs. While some celebrate the gentrification-fuelled  ‘rebirth’ of Broadway Market and the consolidation of its ‘brand  identitity’ with the advent of an organic farmer’s market catering to  inhabitants of the area’s mushrooming yuppy apartments, less affluent  residents have mainly been victims, not beneficiaries, of this striking  transformation.

 The locals, however, have not taken the process lying down.  Demonstrations and protests accompanied earlier phases of the  re-colonisation of Broadway Market, with local people and activists  protesting the notoriously corrupt Hackney Council’s attempt to sell  off its assets to the lowest (and most corporate) bidder. Although much  of the damage has been done, people’s anger toward the council and the  private interests they seem to serve has only intensified.

 This week the struggle against the top-down ‘regeneration’ of the area  took a new turn. On Sunday 27 November a group of locals, housing  activists and experienced squatters moved into number 34 Broadway  Market, a building which until 4 months ago had been the home of well  loved local institution, the Francesca Cafe. The previous tenant and  for thirty years proprietor of the cafe, Calogero ‘Tony’ Platia was  evicted on 1 July 2005. The grounds for this were dubious to say the  least. Tony was well known in the local area, was up to date with his  rent and remained a valued part of the neighbourhood. Like other long  term, now long gone, businesses in the street, the café had definitely  suffered in the previous decades as local manufacturing industry moved  out, but the influx of expensive upscale boutiques did at least bring  the cafe new customers. Tony had plans for the café and it looked like  maybe he just might get something out of the supposed regeneration of  the area after all.





 However, Tony’s chances of benefitting from the gentrification took a nose dive with the sell off of council properties in the street in 2002. To pay off its £70 million debt Hackney Council auctioned hundreds of its properties in the area including schools, playing fields, nurseries, doctors surgeries and retail units. Along with numbers 2, 4, 6, 30 and 32 and the land to the rear of numbers 26-36 Broadway Market, the Francesca Café became the property of a single developer, Dr Roger Wratten. Tony’s new landlord was even worse than the council and it soon became clear that he was on a mission to oust Tony. The circumstances surrounding Dr Wratten’s purchase of the Café are suspicious and currently under investigation; despite the fact that Tony had first refusal on the property and repeatedly tried to buy it from Hackney Council, he was passed over in favour of a wealthy developer. Wratten continued to press for Tony’s eviction from the premises and, after three attempts during which local people rallied to Tony’s defence, in July 2005 the bailiffs, supported by an army of 50 police, succeeded in throwing him out.

 The reoccupation of the café this week under the banner PROTECT BROADWAY MARKET FROM CORRUPT DEVELOPERS! WE WANT OUR CAFE NOT YUPPIE FLATS!’ is already receiving considerable support from local people and has managed to send a clear message to the council that some people are not happy about the way Broadway Market is being regenerated. The new occupiers of the café have successfully halted the demolition (for now at least) and seem to have produced a major shift in the way Hackney Council view Wratten’s purchase of the building and ajoining land. A judicial review of the highly suspect process by which Wratten acquired the property from the council is now going ahead and the council are preparing their responses.

 While such a highly organised coalition of locals, activists and squatters in defence of a small neighbourhood business may be unusual, it is clearly about more than just taking back a local asset for the people of Hackney. It can also be seen as a symbolic blow against the wider programme of state-sanctioned looting which currently besets communities across the UK. To understand why the eviction and threatened demolition of this small café provoked such a strong response one has to go back into the rich history of corruption, swindles and sell-offs that have been going on in Hackney since the 1970s.

Hackney Council Corruption

 The following quotes reveal the background to the neoliberal carve up of Hackney in more detail:

 'In the mid-1990s Hackney Council assured its client base that the Council had overcome the financial difficulties and corruption which had plagued the borough for many years. The borough's Auditors woke up one day and decided that they had a job to do, so they audited the accounts. When they did so, they found to their surprise that there was an unexplained £17 million black hole in the budget. A closer examination of the books found that the £17 million black hole was a chasm amounting to £72 million and the government were not happy that, having recently gained power, one of their Labour Councils had soured their victory.'
 Hackney gets ripped off again, http://www.hackneygetsrippedoff.blogspot.com/

 The message was clear, the government was not going to bail out Hackney Council, instead they advised the council to sell off its properties. Believing, rightly or wrongly, that they had no other choice, the councillors did just that. Whilst this strategy mirrored the standard policy of London councils in auctioning commercial properties off throughout the 1990s, as mentioned above, Hackney also sold off a host of other public facilities and resources: 'school buildings, nurseries, buildings used by voluntary groups, green spaces, garages, public toilets, houses and shops, all have gone under the hammer.'
 ‘Hackney not for Sale’, http://www.schnews.org.uk/sotw/hackney-not-4-sale.htm



 'The estate agents appointed by the council, (Nelson Bakewell tel: 020 7544 2000), have sold £225 million worth of properties for just £70 million, with the majority of these going to wealthy off-shore cartels who have made an absolute killing at the expense of the people of Hackney.'

 'A local lawyer has been researching the background to several of the sell-offs in Broadway Market and claims to have found several cases where the council has been involved in doing deals with developers behind the back of shopkeepers who could have bought their leases. He has been taking the council to task but has not managed to get any straight answers from them in response to his allegations.'
 Hackney Independent, http://www.hackneyindependent.org/

 Residents Meeting

 '[At a recent public meeting] representative from the Dalston area updated people about the recent sell-off of Dalston Lane properties. It seems that these were carried out in the same way as the 2001 Broadway Market sell-off - local shop keepers were sidelined by property developers who were given preferential treatment by the Council's estate agents. The meeting was told that Nelson Bakewell sold an entire parade of shops on Dalston Lane as a job lot for almost half their total combined asking price to an overseas developer that already owns 10 properties in Broadway Market.'
 Hackney Independent, http://www.hackneyindependent.org/content/view/170/2/

Beyond Broadway

 As these quotes suggest, the reoccupation of Tony’s café this week is only one link in a chain of struggles against avaricious developers, corrupt council officials and the various agencies whose chaotic interactions neverthless add up to a sustained and systematic effort to hand over the remains of the welfare state to big capital. There have been marches, protests, meetings, demonstrations outside auction rooms and in the Hackney Town Hall square. The more radical character of this week’s action suggests how tired the community has become of the council’s unresponsive attitude to more conventional protests. The support it has garnered from the many people in the area who have experienced similar treatment in the name of ‘improvement’ and ‘renewal’ suggests the possibility of such actions spreading beyond Broadway Market. Among those supporting the reoccupation of the café are council tenants fed up with seeing local shopkeepers bullied out of their premises but also fighting back against the council and government's stealth privatisation of their own homes through the transfer to 'social landlords' or Arms Length Management Organisations. A more or less intense version of the intimidation experienced by Tony Platia (his cafe was mysteriously firebombed during the period before his eviction...) is familiar to many of those in council estates who do not vote ‘the right way’ when the time comes for them to choose between the continuing dilapidation and privatisation of their homes.



 It would seem that the story of the Francesca Cafe is not so much exceptional as characteristic of the way 'renewal' takes place in inner city areas like Hackney. Coercion, corruption, and the direct or indirect manipulation of the existing community by state and private interests is rife. This is not news for the poorer inhabitants of Hackney, of course. On Broadway Market there is a strong awareness of the stitch up the council has been orchestrating. On the other hand, some of the opposition to this process has been rather narrow. At a previous public meeting called by the Broadway Market Traders & Residents Association and led by Tory Councillor Andrew Boff, plans were tabled to protect the 'local community' of residents and traders from further sell-offs and particularly to prevent corporate businesses such as Starbucks moving in. However, the interpretation of the term ‘local community’ offered here seems limited to the middle class customers and owners of Broadway Market's posh cafe's and furniture shops. As Hackney Independent astutely states: 'Ultimately the [new crop of] shopkeepers want to be protected from the excesses of the free-market whilst enjoying its immediate benefits.'

 Ironically, one of the bodies that managed the sell-off of Hackney Council's properties, Renaisi, recently used a photograph of Tony taken when he was still running his café to lend credibility to their Invest In Hackney website. Despite the brazen conscription as promo fodder of the very people their plan for the area is squeezing out, it is clear that the form of 'investment' Renaisi promote is closer to the military sense of the word than the economic one. Although precious little money goes to revitalising businesses like Tony’s, behind the smiling face of 'urban renewal' presented on the website the commercial equivalent of ethnic cleansing goes on apace:

 ‘While many locals are pleased to see the street become more active, they also recognise that many of the new shops and initiatives are not for them but for wealthy newcomers to an area that has suddenly become trendy and desirable. Tony’s was a place frequented by a broad cross-section of the community.

 What has happened in Broadway Market is part of a general attack on local people in this area. Many are sick of being treated like 2nd class citizens, having their local amenities closed (Haggerston Pool), their estates run down or privatised, their schools demolished and handed over to big business (Laburnum School), and publicly-owned property handed to developers for a pittance.'

 [From the occupiers' Press Release]




Resurgence of 'non-owner' occupiers

 While in recent years it has been increasingly difficult for squatters  to find empty properties or occupy them for any length of time,  property prices and the lack of council or housing association housing  have driven a great number of people into precarious short term leases  or para-legal tenancy. The arrival of occupation manager Camelot in  Hackney (who intercede between licensed occupiers and landlords,  extracting rent from both bodies) has also closed what for many was the  last option for affordable housing in London. So while squatting as a  lifestyle dips over the horizon, it is increasingly a neccessity for  many and can still be a strategy in the ongoing struggle against the  destruction of public space and public property.

 In 2001 the group Hackney Not For Sale set up a spoof estate agents to  lampoon the sell-offs by Hackney Council. Last week an inspiring  historical parallel with this tactic could be found in the recent  obituary of housing activist Tony Mahoney. Mahoney had been central to  the preservation of Fieldgate mansions, several blocks of Victorian  flats earmarked for demolition by Tower Hamlets Council in the 1970's  and preserved through mass squatting actions that placed local families  in much needed housing. Some of them remain council/housing association  tenants to this day.

 However, neither this past struggle nor its current corrollaries on  Broadway Market and elsewhere should be seen through rose-tinted  spectacles. Both must be recognised as going beyond the fight to simply  preserve the historic character of an area or particular building  stock, to a confrontation with the market-led policies of  development-through-looting, the effective confiscation and transfer to  big business of former public property. The citizens (if they can still  be referred to as such) of London boroughs are doubly shafted by this  process, losing both the council properties in which they lived or made  their businesses as well as the potential revenue when they are sold.  They are then invited to pay unaffordable rents for the very same  properties.

 If the embattled reprise of squatting as a strategy is to be  meaningful it needs to assert itself in the context of a wider struggle  to take back the commons – that is, the collectively held and managed  resources which sustain life in the city: affordable or free housing,  food, transport, and communications. The collective re-possession of  these resources is a priority for everyone not included in (or rather,  included out by) the plans of official regeneration.


Links

 Arthur Shuter's Blog
 http://www.hackneygetsrippedoff.blogspot.com/

 Hackney
 http://www.hackneyindependent.org/

 Hackney Independent reproduction of Hackney Gazette article on  Broadway Market Residents Association Meeting
 http://www.hackneyindependent.org/content/view/170/2/

 Hackney Not For Sale Campaign
 http://www.schnews.org.uk/sotw/hackney-not-4-sale.htm

 Haringey Solidarity Collective
 http://www.haringey.org.uk/

 The London Particular
 http://thelondonparticular.org/

 Story of Occupation on Indymedia
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328616.html

 Update
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2005/11/328666.html

 Invest in Hackney
 http://invest-in-hackney.org/index.html

 Hackney Council Planning Documents
  http://www2.hackney.gov.uk/planning/UKPstreetsearch? council=1&streetname=Broadway Market

 How squatters forced the issue
 28/11/05 John Rennie East End Life
 http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/templates/news/detail.cfm?newsid=4838

 Obituary of Tony Mahoney
 Amanda Sebestyen
 Saturday November 19, 2005
 The Guardian Obituaries

Sports and Resistance in the United States

2005-12-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

What's My Name, Fool?: Sports and Resistance in the United States If you're young and you don't know what this guy represented, if your a "not into sport" lefty, if you wonder what's so -not brilliant - about the Olympic games, if you wonder what all the lassez-faire development in Glasgow is about..You could find this interesting.

Residents anger at St Vincent Crescent development

2005-11-24T07:43:00.000-08:00

A WEST END community claimed this week that Glasgow City Council are placing "profit before people" through a joint marketing agreement for a new development in Finnieston which will see the council and Scottish Power share over £5mil-lion. Scottish Power currently leases its land in Finnieston for £50k a year, but the proposed property deal on the four acre site would mean that Scottish Power would receive £4.75million of any sale up to £5.5m.

Scottish Power agreed a 99-year lease on the site with the council in 1968, meaning that they have the rights to remain on the site, subject to review every 21 years. The next review is due to take place ; in 2010. Glasgow City Council would receive £0.75m from the sale, while any capital receipts from funds generated above a £5.5m sale would be split equally between Scottish Power and the council. The Conservation Area Appraisal for St Vincent Crescent was approved in April stating that a "Conservation area designation should be regarded as the first positive step towards an area's protection and enhancement."

THE ST VINCENT CRESCENT Area Association has labelled the Conservation Area Appraisal for St Vincent Crescent as a "sham" and claim the development will "ruin the character and history of the Crescent." Liz Taylor, Secretary of the St Vincent Crescent Residents Association said: "Glasgow City Council is supposed to be protecting and preserving our architectural heritage and built environment for the benefit of future generations. However this property deal is directly opposed to these core values. We therefore believe that the marketing partnership for St Vincent Crescent needs to be scrutinised before matters progress further and we all live to regret the consequences." MSP Pauline McNeil expressed her concern and stated that she was supporting the residents in their objections. She also said that: "Given that an application has already failed, I am hoping that the Planning Committee will uphold the same standards and make it clear to any future applications that conservation rules remain as standard."

 Scottish Power has already lodged a detailed planning application for a residential development of 132 units on the land. The application is currently under consideration and has been the subject of a large number of objections by residents, who have highlighted concerns about traffic management proposals and an absence of family accommodation.

 A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council commented that: "The marketing agreement is seeking to take forward a new housing opportunity in the city. It will see the replacement of an old industrial depot with good quality housing." Scottish Power' s spokesperson said: "Scottish Power are in partnership with Glasgow City Council and any proposal for a site will take into consideration the surrounding area." West End News

MSP claims 'money put before pupils' at new school site

2005-11-24T07:32:00.000-08:00

THE GAP SITE that has been ear-marked for the location of the new "super-school" was chosen because the council were unable to make any money on it, an MSP has claimed this week.

Five schools across the west end are to be closed -all of which are in prime land- and amalgamated into one, which will be located on the site in Gibson Street and Otago Street which is currently used for parking by local businesses and residents. It has now emerged that the land wouldn't make any money for the council if sold to developers due to the drainage problems that the land faces.

The site has been valued at £2.5million, but reductions would mean that it would end up being sold for nothing. On the other hand, the sites that the five schools are located, Notre Dame, Billhead, Willowbank, Kelvinhaugh and St Peter's, stand to make the council huge sums of cash if sold to property developers. MSP Sandra White said: "It looks like they are putting money before pupils. Rather than let the land go for free the council will use it though parents are worried about the location.

"The decision to choose Gibson Street makes a mockery of consultation." A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: "This is the only spare land in the area owned by the council and it meets the requirements."  West End News

Park Fears over "Super-School" site

2005-11-24T07:23:00.000-08:00

councillor Niall Walker has expressed misgivings that the proposed new West End primary 'super-school' at the Gibson and Otago Street gap site could impact upon the running of Kelvingrove Park.Cllr. Walker is concerned that a depot used as space to store equipment for the running and maintenance of Park would have to be demolished to make way for the proposed 12,500 sq. metre '"Site. Speaking to the West End Mail Cllr. Walker said: "As community councillor, I am concerned that equipment, which is absolutely essential to the running of the park could be sent miles away to  the other side of the city. >>>>>>>>>> "Anytime a lawn-mower is needed it would have to come from another part of the city which is clearly not the ideal, the ideal is to have the equipment in or near to where it is needed." Proposals for the new £9.8m school are currently undergoing an extensive consultation process. A council spokeswoman said: "We will not be commenting on any individual views or opinions whilst this is underway. All responses should be sent in writing to the director of education by the 9 December." She also added that there is extensive information available on the council's website. West End Mail

CTC Scotland & TRANSform Scotland - Strategies for walking and cycling?

2005-11-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

This is a one-day seminar to help campaigners (particularly those involved in cycling and walking campaigns) to get to grips with the new National Transport Strategy and the revised Regional Transport Strategies. It is an opportunity for any transport activists to come together to learn to work together.

Football kids miss out as Glasgow fails green test

2005-11-07T12:25:00.000-08:00

Govanhill Baths Trust - Swimmers left high and dry by neglected pools - The Telegraph

2005-11-03T03:19:00.000-08:00

GOVANHILL BATHS COMMUNITY TRUST UPDATE 24 November 1st 2005 & car boot sale

2005-11-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

1. Our third car boot sale will take place at Polmadie this Saturday 5th November from 8am until about 3pm.
If anyone is thinking of clearing out their very best (or even worst) unwanted items we would be glad to have them.  We proudly boast we can sell anything!  All items can be uplifted.  Contact us at this address.
Car Boot Sales are making valuable funds for running the Trust – please tell and or ask others for items.  And come and buy on Saturday


2.      LETTER TO EDUCATION  and CULTURE AND LEISURE SERVICES
We have written to Ronnie O’Conner and Bridgett O’Connell (Directors who have recently been teamed together in a Commission and whose purposes coincide very much with our own))  inviting their departments to become partners with the Trust.  We are also seeking grant aid from the Council for free swimming for children and senior citizens should we manage to open the pool.  Free swimming in these categories is made available to all Glasgow citizens at the Council's pools.  We need to make a calculation in the bid we are preparing for the council due on March 14th 2006.  We await a reply.  (Attached for interest and information).

3.                LETTER TO STEVE INCH DIRECTOR DEVELOPMENT AND REGENERATION SERVICES
Further letter to Steve suggesting a meeting to discuss issues arising from the commitment of the council to Community Planning Partnerships and other issues and the way in which they impinge on decisions being made about the Healthy Living Centre proposed by the Trust on behalf of the south side community.  We await a reply (Attached for interest and information).

4.                Coffee Morning and Home Baking Sale

On Saturday 3rd December there will be a Coffee Morning and Home Baking sale from 10am until Noon.  Venue in Govanhill to be confirmed shortly.  Do you have a favourite cake you can bake?

5.      Next Meeting of Friends of Baths next Tuesday 8th November 2005,  7pm Daisy Street - all welcome.

2005-10-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Govan Law Centre |

Govan Community Council Conference

Poverty, deprivation and development in working class communities

The Pearce Institute, Govan, Glasgow
Monday, 22 November 2004

The Pearce Institute

Community participation and urban regeneration
Dr Charles Collins, School of Social Sciences, Paisley University
John McAllion's discussion of the experience of Whitfield under the New Life for Urban Scotland programme will have reminded many of us of the dark days of the late 1980s - when a right wing government with an ideologically driven hostility to municipal housing was promoting stock transfer on the false basis that it would empower tenants; was forcing local authorities to 'buy into' so-called 'regeneration initiatives' about which they had serious reservations; was talking about tackling poverty at the same time as increasing inequality; and was trying to sell the idea that a 'spirit of enterprise' was what was needed to transform the experience of areas of poverty and deprivation.

Unfortunately, as anyone who is even modestly abreast of the current situation will know, this is by and large what still confronts us today. For the fact is that while the New Life for Urban Scotland programme failed to get even remotely close to achieving the kinds of objectives trumpeted for it in 1988, it has been worryingly successful in another respect. It has been crucial in helping to establish what is seen by politicians, civil servants and people working in the various agencies, local government and the voluntary sector as 'the right basis' - indeed the only basis - on which to develop work towards 'urban regeneration'.

A new consensus has emerged about 'working in partnership', and in reality this means a lot more than it seems to on the surface. It does not just mean that departments, organizations, agencies and communities should all work together to try to bring about the best possible impact on problems. No-one is, or could be, opposed to that - at least in principle (though when one studies relationships at the highest level of government one wonders about what right the current incumbents have to lecture anyone about 'joined-up government' or 'partnership working').

What it means in practical terms is stock transfer, reducing the role of the public sector, promoting 'flexible labour markets' (meaning temporary, non-union labour on poverty wages), and a wholly unrealistic expectation about what the private sector and the 'spirit of enterprise' is ever likely to contribute. In short, it means continuing with all the same themes and ideas which, since 1988, have failed to deliver on stated regeneration objectives. Indeed, at this moment we are in the process of constructing yet another generation of partnerships to work to this agenda - the Community Planning Partnerships which have been made statutory by recent legislation from the Scottish Parliament.

Just how significant the history of failure behind all this has been has become more apparent over the past 5 years or so. The New Life programme established 'partnerships' in 4 areas - Whitfield, Wester Hailes, Castlemilk and Ferguslie Park. They were to have a 10 year life-span and were to transform the areas as a demonstration of the virtues of the 'partnership approach'. The final evaluation of their implementation was published in 1999. Unfortunately, New Labour gave a ringing endorsement to the New Life model a year in advance of the evaluation - and so made the 'partnership approach' the basis of their social inclusion programme and the SIPs. What the evaluation subsequently showed, when one read beyond the very carefully worded, and somewhat misleading, executive summary, was the extent of the failure of the New Life partnerships.

There was £485 million worth of expenditure in just these 4 areas. This, of course, brought housing and environmental improvements - though at the expense of other areas that were starved of investment to pay for it - but by no means on the comprehensive scale that had been envisaged. Labour market participation fell in two of the four areas, and did not seem to impact on the original populations. Beyond housing, the research could turn up no significant improvements in the quality of life on the estates, and in several respects things seemed to get worse. 'Partnership working' amounted to much too little in practice, and local participation on the whole seemed to prove to be a disempowering experience for community groups, and was in some areas disastrous. Yet this 'partnership approach' was what the SIPs were meant to take forward - and with far less in the way of resources to fund them.

Little wonder then that they seem also to have failed. This is made clear in research that was carried out for Communities Scotland to inform the current move to community planning - and the integration of the SIPs into that framework. The difference is that in this report there is no attempt made to mask the reality of the failure. The twist comes in terms of the blame. There is nothing wrong with the basic 'partnership' model, it is claimed. The problem is with the implementers. In future, implementers will have to do better, and will have to be held accountable where they do not. It is time, the report concludes for a "ruthless recognition" of weaknesses in implementation. Of course, where in the New Life programme it was the government themselves who were the lead implementers, now it is local authorities who are to be charged with that responsibility. The irony that we recognise implementation weaknesses at this stage will not be lost on people here today.

Thus the scenario for the coming phase of regeneration policy in Scotland is one that should cause real concern. Local authorities will have a statutory responsibility to lead Community Planning Partnerships which, among other things, will have to 'close the gap' between the poorest communities and the rest of the country. They will be obliged to work on the basis of the 'partnership' approach that has not worked in the past and is not likely to start working now. They will then be held accountable, and blamed, for it not working. They will become even more the target for the frustrations and resentments of local community groups. Indeed they will be expected to facilitate their meaningful participation, despite the fact that they are saddled with an approach which has been shown to have led to the exact opposite of that when central government were themselves in the driving seat. It is a situation in which localities can only lose, and in which we are likely to see further centralisation of power in Edinburgh.

It is, in other words, a situation that cries out for change. We have heard this morning a number of suggestions for change in key areas, and in the coming workshops we will have the opportunity to discuss these and make suggestions.

Mike Dailly highlighted the need for change in housing policy. What we have had for the past 25 years has been more of a tenure than a housing policy - and the earlier priority given to concerns about the quantity and quality of affordable housing has been at best secondary to that. We need to think about how housing policy must change if we are to have stable and balanced communities within rented housing. What are the implications in terms of rents and housing finance? Who is going to provide this housing? Mike Dailly also pointed to problems in the planning system, and to the need to give much greater priority for planning for such stable and balanced communities. What are the changes that are required here?

But in thinking about housing and planning we also come up against some of the broader assumptions of current government thinking that were mentioned by Mike Danson. For the government's broader economic strategies, as expressed in Smart Successful Scotland and the Framework for Economic Development that underpins it, seem to presume not just the continuation of housing and planning policy along current lines, but their intensificiation - more stock transfers to access private capital, a loosening of democratic controls on planning, to say nothing of the continuing emphases on the supply side, flexible labour markets and entrepreneurship that have in the past failed to deliver for areas in need of regeneration. Just how is it that we might conceive a framework for economic development in Scotland that works for local communities seeking regeneration, rather than against them?

And of course John McAllion and myself have talked about some of the specifics and some of the generalities in what is called 'community regeneration' at the moment. Here too there seems to be a clear need for change. This is likely to require that at least some in the local authorities are willing to break away from the 'group think' identified by Baillie Flanagan - according to which anyone who dissents from the prevailing consensus about 'the right' approach is deemed to be a bit mad. What needs to be made clear is that the irrationality in this discussion lies among those who continue to adhere to a model which has been shown to fail over such a protracted period. So, how might community groups develop their own assessment of the failures of the 'partnership' model, and how might they seek to develop an alternative? What would that alternative model look like? How might communities build a coalition which could project that alternative as a serious contender in public debate? In the current context we should be aware that at least some local authorities could be brought into this. The move to community planning seems to hold real dangers for them, and if they can be made aware of this then perhaps community groups and local authorities might begin to rebuild relations and raise critical questions about the 'partnership' approach to regeneration.

These are just a few of the areas and issues that have arisen today. The proposal is that now we should break into two groups and try to identify the 3 key policy changes that we think are required if we are to bring about meaningful and sustainable improvements in the lives of working class communities in Scotland today. Groups should then feed back their suggestions when we reconvene.

M74 project will 'waste millions'

2005-10-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

MRC:: An Open and Shut Case Govanhill baths

2005-10-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

The prestigious Medical Research Council has published its study: An Open and Shut Case.  An investigation of the health impacts of local swimming pool provision in two Glasgow neighbourhoods.  (Pollokshaws and Govanhill)It concluded;

    * Closure of a local amenity may add to residents feelings of lack of choice and control. 
    * Neighbourhood amenities, like public swimming pools, may promote positive mental health and wellbeing among local residents by providing a safe public space for meeting people
    * Links between casual social contact among residents and positive mental health may be explained by reducing feelings of stress, isolation and sharing common difficulties of life
    * Certain groups such as the elderly, parents with young children and those with no access to a car may particularly benefit from local amenity provision 

    * A range of different types is required to cater for different resident groups. 

The full report is available here, and makes fascinating reading particularly the many direct comments from local people. The study was conducted completely independently of the Save Our Pool Campaign and this Trust.  However it echoes strongly the results of our own study (available on request) of 300 local residents in 2001.

Blasts from the Past! : Westminster Parliament Report

In 2001 the Save Our Pool presented to Parliament in Westminster our case for the preservation of the baths.  This was in a context where MP Gerald Hoffman had instigated a formal investigation into  “the Sport of Swimming”.   Campaigners from all over the UK who were trying to save their local community swimming pools (often in Listed  buildings) from demolition by local authorities and against the wishes of local people were invited to put their case to the Committee.  In Glasgow’s case it concluded;

The Government and its policies will be assessed on the way it has been delivered. This report from the Calder Street Pool demonstrates that in so many policy documents and reports, Government and public policies are not being implemented at the local council level, in Glasgow and many examples throughout the country.

The report was completely ignored by the Scottish Executive and Glasgow City Council.

Far more than a swimming pool
It was a baths and a bathing house for the health, recreation and fitness of the people where ... Govanhill Pool indelibly marks a Scottish sense of place!

http://www.scottishleftreview.org/php/upload/I12AJ.htm (Scottish Left Review)
Latest Evening Times Report

www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5036348

“We want a wind turbine” on the top of Queens Park….
The money generated from our scheme could go towards funding community causes, such as the Govanhill Baths Trust.
Submission of final bid to council

As a result of the concerns we expressed about the funding requirement modifications have been made and these are attached below in a letter from Steve Inch Director of DRS Glasgow.   As you will see we no longer need to have funds in place by 14th March 2006 - a requirement that as we explained would have been quite impossible.
Letter from Steve Inch
I refer to your most recent exchange of emails with Frank Sheridan regarding the above.  Unfortunately Frank is on annual leave and I am unable to discuss the contents with him for the time being.
I write however, to acknowledge that I am fully aware of the complexities of raising funding for a project of this nature, and of the timescales involved in dealing with the principal funding sources.
I am therefore prepared to amend the Council’s position to ensure that you have the maximum opportunity to develop your proposals.  By the 14th March deadline I would therefore ask you to provide me with

(a) copy of your detailed feasibility study and development proposal
(b) copy of the proposed income sources for the capital works, with copies of applications to funding sources and an indication of the timescales for their decisions, and
(c) copies of the income and expenditure plan for the project once it is complete, demonstrating that it can operate on a financially viable basis.

I accept therefore that you will be unable to have funding from all sources confirmed by 14th March but would expect you to be able to clearly demonstrate what funding sources you are targeting for contributions, that applications for funding have been made, and when you expect the decisions to be taken.

This will provide me with sufficient information to prepare a progress report to the DRS Committee.
I trust you will find this helpful.
Media Release Archive
DRS response

Council consider Govanhill Baths Community Trust application

London Pools Campiagn/ Access to the baths

Regeneration Services plans/ Council's media release / End of February news

Council's position on Govanhill Baths "surplus to requirements"/ Other early February news

Diving into action! News articles

Recent quotes about the pool

More quotes

City Centre ask for interest in baths

 
 See attachment for layout

Govanhill Baths

Community Trust
Registered Scottish Charity No: SC 036162 
 Recent Media Releases

http://www.geocities.com/govanhillbaths/index.html

N.B. If you find problems with this, above, website they are in the process of being rectified so do keep in touch. Thanks for your support.

Contact us at govanhillbaths@yahoo.co.uk for more information.

MRC: An Open and Shut Case

The prestigious Medical Research Council has published its study: An Open and Shut Case.  An investigation of the health impacts of local swimming pool provision in two Glasgow neighbourhoods.  (Pollokshaws and Govanhill)
It concluded;
    * Closure of a local amenity may add to residents feelings of lack of choice and control. 
    * Neighbourhood amenities, like public swimming pools, may promote positive mental health and wellbeing among local residents by providing a safe public space for meeting people
    * Links between casual social contact among residents and positive mental health may be explained by reducing feelings of stress, isolation and sharing common difficulties of life
    * Certain groups such as the elderly, parents with young children and those with no access to a car may particularly benefit from local amenity provision 

    * A range of different types is required to cater for different resident groups. 

 

The full report is available here, and makes fascinating reading particularly the many direct comments from local people. The study was conducted completely independently of the Save Our Pool Campaign and this Trust.  However it echoes strongly the results of our own study (available on request) of 300 local residents in 2001.

 

Blasts from the Past! : Westminster Parliament Report

In 2001 the Save Our Pool presented to Parliament in Westminster our case for the preservation of the baths.  This was in a context where MP Gerald Hoffman had instigated a formal investigation into  “the Sport of Swimming”.   Campaigners from all over the UK who were trying to save their local community swimming pools (often in Listed  buildings) from demolition by local authorities and against the wishes of local people were invited to put their case to the Committee.  In Glasgow’s case it concluded;

 

The Government and its policies will be assessed on the way it has been delivered. This report from the Calder Street Pool demonstrates that in so many policy documents and reports, Government and public policies are not being implemented at the local council level, in Glasgow and many examples throughout the country.

 

The report was completely ignored by the Scottish Executive and Glasgow City Council.

 

Far more than a swimming pool


It was a baths and a bathing house for the health, recreation and fitness of the people where ... Govanhill Pool indelibly marks a Scottish sense of place!

 

http://www.scottishleftreview.org/php/upload/I12AJ.htm (Scottish Left Review)

 

Latest Evening Times Report

www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5036348

 

“We want a wind turbine” on the top of Queens Park….

 

The money generated from our scheme could go towards funding community causes, such as the Govanhill Baths Trust.

 

 

Submission of final bid to council

 

As a result of the concerns we expressed about the funding requirement modifications have been made and these are attached below in a letter from Steve Inch Director of DRS Glasgow.   As you will see we no longer need to have funds in place by 14th March 2006 - a requirement that as we explained would have been quite impossible.

 

Letter from Steve Inch

 

I refer to your most recent exchange of emails with Frank Sheridan regarding the above.  Unfortunately Frank is on annual leave and I am unable to discuss the contents with him for the time being.

 

I write however, to acknowledge that I am fully aware of the complexities of raising funding for a project of this nature, and of the timescales involved in dealing with the principal funding sources.

 

I am therefore prepared to amend the Council’s position to ensure that you have the maximum opportunity to develop your proposals.  By the 14th March deadline I would therefore ask you to provide me with:

 

(a) copy of your detailed feasibility study and development proposal

(b) copy of the proposed income sources for the capital works, with copies of applications to funding sources and an indication of the timescales for their decisions, and

(c) copies of the income and expenditure plan for the project once it is complete, demonstrating that it can operate on a financially viable basis.

 

I accept therefore that you will be unable to have funding from all sources confirmed by 14th March but would expect you to be able to clearly demonstrate what funding sources you are targeting for contributions, that applications for funding have been made, and when you expect the decisions to be taken.

 

This will provide me with sufficient information to prepare a progress report to the DRS Committee.

 

I trust you will find this helpful.

 

Media Release Archive

 

DRS response

Council consider Govanhill Baths Community Trust application

London Pools Campiagn/ Access to the baths

Regeneration Services plans/ Council's media release / End of February news

Council's position on Govanhill Baths "surplus to requirements"/ Other early February news

Diving into action! News articles

Recent quotes about the pool

More quotes

City Centre ask for interest in baths

GOVANHILLBATHS COMMUNITY TRUST UPDATE 23 Appointment of Architects

2005-10-13T01:04:00.000-07:00

After a very considerable architectural interest from a range of prestigious Glasgow and Edinburgh companies in our Project to re-open Govanhill Baths as a Healthy Living Centre , we have now appointed NORD Architects of Glasgow to proceed with our feasibility study and options analysis.  
 
Two of NORD’s directors were project architects on the Tramway redevelopment development in Glasgow and NORD have just been included in The Architect journal's top 40 young British Practices.
 
We attach for your interest the vision that they have for the project.  VISION    

NORD DESIGN STATEMENT


NORD’s aim is to assist the Govanhill Baths Trust in determining the future for the Baths. The restoration of the 3 existing pools has been a key focus as part of a scheme for the whole building that will be financially sustainable for years to come. The current plans for the restoration of the full site at Calder Street includes a mixture of uses throughout different parts of the building which will offer a mixed use programme that is both physically and culturally sustainable for the building.  Consultation with community members, the Trust’s Board, Glasgow Health Board, users of the closed baths and consideration of local needs from a recreative, health and sporting perspective has enabled us to produce a typical ‘day in the life’ diagrams which shows the full potential of the building as a Healthy Living Centre creating a community resource which will breath life back in to Govanhill. 

KEY CHARACTERISTICS: 
Govanhill Baths is a fine example of the high quality of social amenities provided in Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century Scotland. At this time Bath Houses were seen as a way of promoting cleanliness, exercise and the general self-improvement for the working classes. 

Wash baths housed in cubicles in the upper level of the front building to Calder Street provided the local community with private washing facilities largely absent from working class dwellings. The building also housed a full Turkish Baths suite.

Facilities at Govanhill Pool were quite unique in the context of Glasgow in recent times with a segregated pool for men and women offering members of the BME communities a private bathing experience a facility absent from contemporary leisure pools.

The 2 main pools have changing cabins and are equipped with separate showers, the largest of the pools was historically a Gala pool in which civic events took place, seating is provided in the gallery for spectators again a key feature missing from most contemporary leisure pools.

Another notable feature is the stepped access to the main pool a feature much commented upon and welcomed by the physically impaired and elderly where entering the pool is a gradual process and non exclusive.

In one hundred years, whilst alterations and modifications have occurred, many have not been highly intrusive. Much of the original construction materials and finishes remain in situ and intact, presenting an invaluable opportunity to conserve a significant example of a type of building unique to the social conditions and political will prevalent at the time of construction. Listed grade ‘B’ The Govanhill Pool is one of the few Glasgow Bath Houses still standing. This would suggest that it is of great importance to Glasgow’s built heritage. 

DESIGN TEAM

NORD’s approach has been guided by technical back up from Synergy water technology who are experts in the field of swimming pool technology and filtration systems. Synergy water technology have carried out a visual survey of the existing filtration system and associated plant and appendix 1 should be referred to for a summary of their findings. Along with Synergy NORD have been working with Buro Happold Engineers with whom we have a close working relationship.  They offer specialist services in accessibility, environmental, fire engineering, structural and services strategies. NORD and Buro Happold have worked together on Tramway, where a services budget of £850,000 was married with an innovative fire engineering strategy. NORD and Buro Happold have also worked together on the £650,000 Royston recording Studios, £5.5 million pound McCormick Printworks redevelopment project and currently on the £550,000 Timespan Heritage Centre refurbishment. All of these projects have included the refurbishment of an existing Listed Building where budget constraints have focused the design team on an economical and integrated design and services approach. NORD and Buro Happold’s invaluable experience of working with buildings of this nature; similar in construction to the Govanhill Pool with similar technical requirements would help shape any future Applications for funding which are ambitious but economically realistic. NORD have a good working relationship with Glasgow’s Building Control Department.  We feel our understanding of current technical legislation will help during the design development process. Buro Happold have outlined potential environmental strategies for the building and these should be referred to in Appendix 2.

DESIGN APPROACH AND ACCESS STRATEGY

NORD’s approach has been one of consolidation where the potential of existing spaces has been explored before offering up any new additions to the building. The key strategy for the building is the creation of a new internal ‘street’ incorporating a clear access / circulation strategy. The strategy allows a currently restrictive floor plan to offer links between existing spaces which currently do not exist while creating new opportunities for linkages to new spaces. The new internal street while offering better circulation throughout the building also allows the three pools to function independently. The ‘street’ acts as a central spine which connects the ‘wash house’ at the rear to the stone built front building on Calder Street. This simple move is then strengthened by the creation of a new feature staircase, which allows vertical circulation to the upper level and new external roof garden.

The positioning of a social space or new type of public space would be a key focus in the organisational strategy for the building encouraging cultural and social interaction and providing an environment where these interactions can occur. The potential for a range of more flexible spaces and in general ‘flexibility’ would be achieved through a comprehensive understanding of the life cycle of the building including day to day activities. A detailed understanding of the future potential of the building would be achieved through consultation with user group and client in workshop type forums which are continually evolving.

A new community garden has been proposed which moves the entrance and ramped access away from their existing restricted position on Calder Street to a position further east. This new public interface allows the building to connect more comfortably with the street creating an external social space where bikes can be parked, people can meet and events can happen. This new external space allows the creation of a new ‘focal’ point entrance giving way to an open plan foyer space, which marks the beginning of the internal ‘street’.

These outline proposals have already been presented to a large community meeting organized by the GBCT where they met with very considerable approval and enthusiasm.  They have also been presented to a small group of the local politicians including Anne- Marie Miller, Malcolm Cunning and Frank McAveatie in a meeting held with Trust’s Board. Again they appeared here to meet with approval. 

NORD have a reputation for being innovative in their architectural style and approach and with The Govanhill Pool NORD would strive to create a building in Govanhill which is architecturally inspirational, visually attractive, multi-functional and a strong focus for the local community.

Govanhill Baths Community Trust UPDATE 22 (October 12th 2005)

2005-10-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

After another highly successful and profitable car boot sale at Polmadie last Saturday, Friends of Govanhill Baths decided to hold the event on a monthly.  The next will be held  on Saturday 5th November.   Good quality saleable bric a brac, and goods of any sort warmly welcomed.  We have a sales team that can sell anything to anyone!1.      Car Boot Sale

        
After another highly successful and profitable car boot sale at Polmadie last Saturday, Friends of Govanhill Baths decided to hold the event on a monthly.  The next will be held  on Saturday 5th November.   Good quality saleable bric a brac, and goods of any sort warmly welcomed.  We have a sales team that can sell anything to anyone!  



2.   Continuing correspondence with Development and Regeneration Services  

 

Letter to Steve Inch Director of Development and Regeneration Services suggesting that pointing out our continued concerns about the conditions laid on the Trust in the context of Community Planning Partnerships and calling for a meeting with his officials. We await a reply. 

 

Dear Steve Inch,

 

Thank you for your letter in which you specify amendments to the original conditions set down in a letter we had received from Mr. Frank Sheridan of 10th September 2005.  We note its contents and in particular that, “copies of applications to funding sources and an indication of the time scales for their decisions” is now required by 14th March 2005 as opposed to the original requirement that all funds should be in place by then. 

 

Whilst we are pleased with this most critical and important change there are we think serious matters that arise from it.    

 

We would like to echo the point made in our last letter that we are seriously concerned on how a department such as yours and subsequently an elected sub-committee arrived at allocating a timeframe of six months in which to develop our proposal. You say in your letter that it is the ‘council’s position to ensure that you (Trust) have the maximum opportunity to develop your proposal’. We assume that the six months allocation is based on previous experience of similar projects and can be realistically achieved. The Trust would hope that the council could identify previous proposals so as to assist and guide us in developing our proposal.

 

We have consulted with a wide range of expertise and indeed through advertising and interviewing selected a prestigious local architectural company to proceed with our options analysis and feasibility study.  Unanimously the view has been expressed that the conditions laid down were clearly those that would almost certainly guarantee failure at the first hurdle.  More so was this the case, as we suggested in our last letter, was the fact that we have been pitched against a national company that will have available full professional services and the capital costs for its proposals!

 

The Trust would like to take this opportunity to let the council know what we believes can be realistically achieved by the deadline set. 

a)                 a copy of the completed feasibility or near completed feasibility study and development proposal

b)                 a copy of the proposed income sources for capital works, and proposed applications to funding sources and indication of the timescales for their decisions, and

c)                  a copy of the Trust’s business plan for the project demonstrating its financial viability.

 

This, after having taken advice is we believe a realistic assessment of what is achievable in the next five months. 

 

Within the spirit of the new legislation in respect of Community Planning Partnerships it really is rather surprising that a Community Trust such as ours should be treated so aggressively.   More so that as soon as we objected the decision was changed immediately.  This process in itself has added valuable time to the process, time taken out of the scale set.  Indeed, we are left to wonder why and how such a decision was made in the first place.

 

Now, we recently reported on our web commitments made by the council leader, Stephen Purcell  at the recent East Pollokshields Community Planning Meeting chaired by Lord Best of the Rowntree Trust at which the leader was a keynote speaker.; 

 

·         he was totally committed to the concept of community partnership and had ensured that he would chair the council group in this area. 

·         there would be a need to change the culture in the council in respect of how decisions were made and he was "well up for the debate about how decisions were made". 

·         social renewal and regeneration were at the heart of the agenda and there was a need for there to be more focus on people. 

·         the Council's role along with Community Partnerships was to tackle problems identified by people and show that people can make a difference

After some discussion our Board has come to the view that if indeed it is the case that,  “social renewal and regeneration are at heart  of the agenda and there was a need for there to be more focus on people”  as leader Purcell stated, then we should be given an opportunity to properly discuss the arrangements you have imposed, since, having been through the process of selecting an architect it has become clear that all of the prestigious companies we interviewed with regard to the feasibility study would have found the time scale set  most onerous and well nigh impossible.  In this regard we note that the council itself in its original feasibility study completed by EDAW and Park and Page set down a limit of 6 months for its delivery and in fact it was published some 8 months late! 

Thus we would propose that a meeting should be arranged that would involve yourselves, our appointed architect, our project manager and representatives of our Board and possibly one or two of our partners. The function of such a meeting would be to properly share a delivery agenda that is not just built on a straight business and property transaction principles but also fully incorporates what the leader has clearly placed very high on the council’s policy agenda in respect of Community Planning Partnerships.

Yours sincerely

Secretary GBCT

 

3.         Evening Times Report  www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5036348   

 

 

We want a 200ft wind turbine - on the top of Queen's Park ...
The money generated from our scheme could go towards funding community causes,
such as the Govanhill Baths Trust.

 

4.      The prestigious Medical Research Council has published its study: An Open and Shut Case.  An investigation of the health impacts of local swimming pool provision in two Glasgow neighbourhoods.  (Pollokshaws and Govanhill)

 

It concluded;

 

   Closure of a local amenity may add to residents feelings of lack of choice and control.  
   Neighbourhood amenities, like public swimming pools, may promote positive mental health and wellbeing among local residents by providing a safe public space for meeting people
   Links between casual social contact among residents and positive mental health may be explained by reducing feelings of stress, isolation and sharing common difficulties of life
   Certain groups such as the elderly, parents with young children and those with no access to a car may particularly benefit from local amenity provision

 

   A range of different types is required to cater for different resident groups. 

 

The full report is attached and makes fascinating reading particularly the many direct comments from local people. The study was conducted completely independently of the Save Our Pool Campaign and this Trust.  However it echoes strongly the results of our own study (available on request) of 300 local residents in 2001.

 

See attached  

 

4.                  Blasts from the Past!

 

a.      Westminster Parliament Report

In 2001 the Save Our Pool presented to Parliament in Westminster our case for the preservation of the baths.  This was in a context where MP Gerald Hoffman had instigated a formal investigation into  “the Sport of Swimming”.   Campaigners from all over the UK who were trying to save their local community swimming pools (often in Listed  buildings) from demolition by local authorities and against the wishes of local people were invited to put their case to the Committee.  In Glasgow’s case it concluded; 

The Government and its policies will be assessed on the way it has been delivered. This report from the Calder Street Pool demonstrates that in so many policy documents and reports, Government and public policies are not being implemented at the local council level, in Glasgow and many examples throughout the country.

The report was completely ignored by the Scottish Executive and Glasgow City Council.

 

5. Far more than a swimming pool



It was a baths and a bathing house for the health, recreation and fitness of the people where ... Govanhill Pool indelibly marks a Scottish sense of place! 

 

www.scottishleftreview.org/php/upload/I12AJ.htm  

            Scottish Left Review

 

6.  Next Friends of Govanhill Pool: meeting at Daisy Street Neighbourhood Centre Tuesday 25th October 2005. 7-30pm. All welcome

 

 

 

ENDS

  

Memorandum submitted by Govanhill Pool (Save Our Pool), Glasgow 

  "The purpose of the pool campaign is to ensure that the Calder Street Pool is reopened as a publicly funded Healthy Living Centre. The Centre would be for the use and improvement in health and sport of all the residents in Govanhill and surrounding areas."

INDEX OF THE REPORT 

  1.  History of Calder Street Baths
  2.  The Govanhill Area
  3.  The Process of Closure
  4.  Funding
  5.  Has Funding New Pools been the Answer?
  6.  Pool Campaign
  7.  Health Issues
  8.  Political Support
  9.  Religious Support
  10.  Media
  11.  Thank you for Listening
  12.  In Summary
  13.  Recommendations for Consideration

1.  HISTORY OF CALDER STREET BATHS

1.1  History 

  The Calder Street Baths were opened in around 1914. It is a Grade IIB listed building. The building has many similar features to swimming pools built around that period such as the Victoria Baths in Manchester.

1.2  Facilities available 

(a)  Large main pool especially useful for lane swimming.

(b)  A smaller pool that was especially used for segregated swimming to cater for the large ethnic population in the local area. Ethnic females, for religious reasons, are not able to bathe in open public areas.

(c)  A teaching pool that was used for teaching children to swim, and was especially useful for teaching of special needs children—the pool was used by four local special needs schools (Hollybrook, St Oswalds, Kirkriggs and Carnbooth), all of which have lost swim time since the closure of the pool).

  There were also gym facilities and a sauna and steam room. The laundrette and bathtubs were closed despite 700 households in the area not having bathing facilities, ie no bath or shower.

1.3  Usage of the facilities 

  There were 200,000 users of the pool in recent years. Like similar pools around the country, the facility has not been maintained and appeared to be deliberately under-funded allowing the building to fall into disrepair. This led to frequent temporary closures of the pool due to mechanical problems with the boiler and other apparatus. Glasgow City Council estimates that in the last year before closure there were only 80,000 users. Figures for usage were grossly inaccurate as machines used for counting apparently often did not work and were delayed from being repaired; swim days were also lost due to above cited problems. Swimming groups were counted as one user when in fact there were up to 200 users in the club.

2.  THE GOVANHILL AREA 

  The Govanhill area of Glasgow is one of the most deprived areas of the city with poor health, high unemployment and crime a major concern. Govanhill lies within the Shettleston constituency, officially the unhealthiest and most deprived in Britain. There is a diverse mix of ethnic and religious groups in the local area. Like many deprived inner city areas around the country Govanhill faces the threat of closure of many local facilities and amenities. Local perceptions that the area is in decline were confirmed in a study what was carried out by the Scottish Council Foundation, this study identified Govanhill as a community "at risk". A key local concern uncovered by this study was the loss and deterioration of local facilities. 

  This was recognised in the document Sport Life for You "Low levels of car ownership result in a lack of personal mobility and coupled with low levels of income and territoriality amongst young people place major constraints on their participation in sport and recreation.

  Sport Scotland also state that sport such as swimming can make a positive impact on young people in particular. As it provides an opportunity for personal and social development and a positive alternative to crime, drug and alcohol abuse. Naturally it improves health and fitness and can boost confidence and self esteem, teach leadership, teamwork and social skills that can be used in all aspects of life. It also offers valuable lessons on how to win and how to lose. It teaches the benefit of hard work and how to treat others with self-respect.

  The pool should not only be preserved for preservations sake but should be preserved because it responds to the needs of the local community—multi-cultural as well as poor health and suffering multiple deprivation.

3.  THE PROCESS OF CLOSURE 

3.1  Initially 

  When opposition parties in Glasgow first raised concern about the possible closure this was denied by the Council and elected Councillors. The information give to the Scottish Parliament led Rhona Brankin, Junior Minister in response to questions about the closure of another neighbouring pool, to state in December 1999, that Govanhill offered one of the best provisions in Scotland. 

3.2  Council makes a decision 

  At some state during the year attitudes to the pool suddenly changed. It is difficult to know when Glasgow City Council made the decision, as there was no apparent record of the decision being made to close the pool by the Culture and Leisure Department, whose Director is Bridget McConnell, wife of the Jack McConnell, now the First Minister. In January 2001 was the first time that it was officially confirmed after months of denial that the Council had decided to close the pool. In February 2001 the matter was due to be discussed by the Council Finance Committee. However, before this finance meeting letters were made available at the pool signed by the Council Leader stating that the pool would be closing, at the end of March, stating that the pool had "past its sell by date", and also implied that the decision had already been taken to close the pool. At the crucial finance meeting the local elected councillor who could have objected to the closure was absent, leaving nobody to
 speak on behalf of the local community. Instead of writing to the chair of the Finance Committee, he had written to the Labour Chief Executive. This ensured that there were no objections at the meeting that approved the closure as a budget cut.

3.3  Pool users informed 

  In January 2001 Council officials informed swimming clubs of the closure and some were allocated a pool in Castlemilk several miles away. They were not given an opportunity to use either of the two new pools.

3.4  Community Council 

  The Community Council was not properly informed of the proposal before closure. The Council has now disbanded the local Community Councils as the democratically elected local representatives have tried to discuss the pool closure.

3.5  Feasibility Study 

  After the public outcry from the local community and in Glasgow of yet another pool closure in the city a feasibility study was commenced to put forward proposals for the pool building. The remit for EDAW, the appointed consultants, was partial and full demolition as well as the possibility of some kind of pool facility. Re-opening the pool with public funding was not an option, limiting the remit of the feasibility study.

  EDAW, the contractors appointed by GCC to undertake the feasibility study have refused to talk to any community resident or local business that would involve re-opening all three pools or any Council funding as it was not in their remit.

  EDAW finally recognised the importance of Community consultation and sent out thousands of questionnaires to selected local residents on 16 November 2001. This is nearly five months after they commenced the survey. The questionnaire stated that funding was "unlikely" to be available for the main pool. This is incorrect given that a proper evaluation has not been carried out. The questionnaire officially recognised that most local residents support the pool being re-opened. Options that EDAW included were demolishing a Grade IIB listed building and reusing it for a variety of different uses. The questionnaire is completely biased to the Council preferred options.

3.6  Title Deeds 

  In a previous case GCC were prevented from building on the Glasgow Green, a local park, because it was revealed the Title Deeds stated that the park was to be retained for the good of the people of Glasgow. In the case of the Calder Street Baths GCC are taking extraordinary measures to prevent local people viewing the Title Deeds of the building. The Official Council solicitor stated that GCC is withholding the title deeds every attempt will be made to prevent their disclosure on the building. The Council has refused to allow anyone to view the Title Deeds of the Calder Street building even after legal representation had been made. It makes it very interesting that such vital documents are being withheld after what happened at Glasgow Green.

4.  FUNDING

4.1  Sport Scotland/Lottery Funding 

  Glasgow City Council received substantial grants from Sport Scotland, which they do not appear to be required to give any account of their expenditure. We have tried on numerous occasions to obtain clarification from Sport Scotland about how they monitor how the money is spent. To date they have not replied to our correspondence or appear to have any proper accountable procedures to avoid misuse of funds.

  A swimming group using the pool has not been able to obtain any kind of public funding, as the funding maximum expenditure threshold is quite low. An example, swimming group had an annual budget of £15,500. This is £500 over the level eligible for lottery funding. As a result they are not able to receive any lottery funding for their group.

4.2  Scottish Heritage/Civic Trust 

  The building is listed and is on the "at risk" register by the Scottish Civic Trust. There is a real fear that the Council plan to demolish this listed building as they have done in other parts of the city.

4.3  Scottish Executive 

  The Scottish Executive has had a huge under spend, despite this they have stated that they are unable to assist in local matters. However, the Scottish Executive were able to offer assistance for Hampden which is in the local area of the pool and Sighthill where the Council has accommodated refugees. 

4.4  Glasgow City Council

4.4.1  Maintenance of old pools 

  There is clear evidence that Councils do not want to maintain old historic buildings. Such buildings are often deliberately under-funded so that they are run-down making closure more likely. This is clearly a form of "institutional vandalism". The Convenor of the Cultural and Leisure Services stated that "The Labour Group believe that smaller swimming pools like Calder Street are past their useful life and their retention is considered impossible." This apparent short-sighted attitude appears to be a prevalent attitude of many inner city councils around the country of many political persuasions. In Calder Street this meant that loose tile were stuck back with sticky tape rather than proper tiling grout ensuring that further water penetration and damage occurred.

  At one time Glasgow had 25 public bathhouses, all in the traditional Victorian style. Govanhill was the last remaining pool of this type in Glasgow, the only other which is still in operation, has been extensively refurbished and has lost many of its original features. The loss of Govanhill would thus be a devastating blow to the architectural heritage and social history of the city.

  The most intensive period of culling of Victorian bathhouses in Glasgow has taken place over the past 20 years. To our knowledge there are at least three other Victorian bath houses in Glasgow which were closed in the last five years and which currently still lied boarded up and unused. These bathhouses are typically located in inner city areas and are very much community facilities, accessed mostly on foot by local residents. Govanhill pool was regarded as such a community facility and was accessed mostly by people who lived within a one to two mile radius of the pool, mostly on foot or local transport. The Council has chosen to cut down on the level of service by building a far smaller number of leisure facilities, to which people are expected to travel over longer distances.

  The ethnic minority community also face significant barriers to using these local facilities because of the open, glass walled architectural style, prohibiting use for those, particularly women of the Islamic faith. Govanhill pools extensive use by the local (and wider) ethnic minority community demonstrates that not only is the pool a historic building with strong heritage value but that it is also a very relevant building to the contemporary needs of a multi-cultural community.

4.4.2  Security costs 

  Glasgow City Council has spent tens of thousands of pounds for security officers for a peaceful campaign. This money could have been better spent keeping the pool open for another year whilst a proper public consultation took place.

4.5  Other sources of funding 

  As there has been no formal process enabling alternative sources to be found from resident and business donations, health board and other charitable groups. This was possible, before closure by the Council, working with the local community if the intention was to save the pool.

5.  HAS FUNDING NEW POOLS BEEN THE ANSWER?

5.1  Environmentally unfriendly 

  One of the new pools was built on a site with a history of subsidence. Another new pool has glass fronted sides unsuitable to certain ethnic groups for religious reasons. Glass buildings need a lot more maintenance in the long term and are not environmentally friendly as there are more heating and air-conditioning costs.

5.2  Leisure pools not swimming pools 

  The new facilities are unsuitable for swimming clubs, as they are leisure pools. They are not deep enough nor do they have adequate if any spectator galleries for competitions and swimming galas.

5.3  Poor public transport access 

  The location of these facilities is unsuitable for access by public transport—both of the facilities to which Govanhill residents have been redirected to—Gorbals and Bellahouston—require either two buses or a bus and a long walk. This is proving prohibitive for non-car owners, the elderly, disabled, and those with families. New pools had been built with poor transport access to areas losing pools.

5.4  Territorial problems 

  A further barrier for young people is the territorialism which exists between Govanhill and the Gorbals, unfortunately young people will not travel into what is regarded as a "rival area", where there safety is at risk, and are choosing not to swim at all.

  Some of the swimming groups that used the Calder Street Pool state that there has been a 50 per cent drop in numbers. There has been a similar drop in GP referrals for health rehabilitation patients.

6.  POOL CAMPAIGN 

6.1  How a pool campaign began 

  Like other pools around the country that faced a similar uncertain future it was clear that local support needed to be established. The Pool Campaign arose and was established to ensure that another local facility was not lost without local support.

  There had been rumours for a long time that the Calder Street Baths could close. Elected Councillors and Council officials always denied this. There was no effective debate about the closure either before during or after closure.

  The Mission Statement of the campaign is "The purpose of the pool campaign is to ensure that the Calder Street Pool is re-opened as a publicly funded Healthy Living Centre. The Centre would be for the use and improvement in health of all the residents in Govanhill and surrounding areas."

  The Campaign started when it became clear in January 2001 that the pool could close, The Campaign has always been peaceful and non-violent. When it became clear that the Council was following the DAD principles:

Decided on a policy without any proper consultation;

Announced a policy without any proper consultation; and

Defended that policy without any proper consultation.

6.2  High Profile Action 

  It became clear that when the local elected representative Councillors were not willing to discuss the matter attention needed to be drawn to the Calder Street Pool. An occupation of the building began to preserve the building and prevent any vandalism or theft-taking place from this local facility. The occupation lasted over a hundred days whilst the Council deliberated on the course of action to take. Clearly they under-estimated the strength of local feeling and highlighted that the Council was not following Government guidelines to actively seek local support and ideas in the decision making process. The occupation ended on 7 August with the Council implementing an eviction order. The approach the Council adopted shocked people throughout Glasgow and Scotland. The Police involvement on the day is now under investigation by Fife Constabulary.

6.3  Support Days 

  Various Gala Days and events ranging from rallies to bike rides were organised at which hundreds of local people turned up to support. There is widespread support for the campaign all over the city.

6.4  Petition 

  Tens of thousands of people have signed the petition to keep the pool open.

6.5  World-wide web support 

  The save our pool campaign's web-site at saveourpool.co.uk has received over 20,000 hits and messages of support. A priest in Brazil/the Mayor of Brisbane Australia had sent some pictures of a demolished pool building.

6.6  High Profile Celebrity support 

  Many actors, public figures and celebrities have stopped by the pool to support the campaign.

7.  HEALTH ISSUES 

7.1  Health Study 

  The pool campaign from its own resources has funded a health feasibility study in the area to assess the real impact of the pool closure on the local community. Support has been widespread with local residents, schools and patients taking time to complete the forms.

  The results of this study are currently being collated, however a few key issues are being raised again and again. When asked what people like/dislike about traditional pools and what they like/dislike about leisure pools again and again it is said that the traditional pool of Govanhill was friendly and had a strong community feeling, unlike the leisure pools which are regarded as impersonal and clinical. This point should strike a chord with the governments policies on neighbourhood and community cohesion, in Govanhill, a community "at risk" the pool was an oasis of calm, a place to feel a part of a together community. Such facilities should be encouraged, not destroyed.

  A great many people also mentioned the distance and inaccessibility of the new facilities, this is proving a powerful disincentive for many people, to the extent that they have either given up swimming or have drastically reduced the amount of swimming they do.

  More worryingly, Glasgow City Councils flagship public health initiative—"free swimming for kids" is floundering in Govanhill—early indications show that a significant number of local children have failed to apply for the free swim card, despite being regular swimmers at Govanhill, they cannot travel to the new distant facilities themselves and their parents cannot afford to take them.

7.2  Results from the health survey 

  Below is a selection of quotes from local people, from the questionnaires:

"People need to have facilities so that they can have no excuse for being heart attacks-in-waiting"—Pollokshields resident, female 26-40.

On Govanhill pool "a valuable local facility that catered for the needs of the community, deliberately run down by the Council"—Govanhill resident, female age 26-40.

"I am a personal carer and now have to make extra arrangements to care for my relative while travelling to a distant pool. I used Govanhill pool twice a week but now can only arrange to use Gorbals once a week—travelling time is the main factor."—Govanhill resident, female, age 60+.

"The closure of the pool has not only affected my joints (arthritis) but has also affected by social networks". Female 26-40 Govanhill

  Below are some quotes from public health experts, which points to the need for good health promoting facilities in places like Govanhill:

"the key to health improvements is to address the causes of poor health and not just the symptoms".

"implications for public health policy is that attention should be focused on places as well as people".

"public health policy should focus on health promoting or health damaging features of local areas as well as on individual lifestyle factors".

7.3  Casualties of closure

7.3.1  Stroke victim 

  One of the saddest cases that the campaign that had come to the attention was that of a local resident who used to swim daily at the pool. Since it's closure has been unable to travel to other facilities. Recently this swimmer had a stroke and is now limited mobility. The full impact of the pool closure on this victim cannot be clearly assessed however, there will be many more such cases in the long term.

7.3.2  Mugged swimmers 

  A female swimmer unable to afford the bus fare to the new pool walked from Govanhill through a park to Bellahouston Pool. On the way she was mugged in the park. On arriving at the pool was told she could not swim as there were too many children in the pool for lane swimming to be possible.

7.3.3  Territorial pools 

  Young people attempted to use the Gorbals pool are being threatened by Gorbal youths stating that people from Govanhill are not allowed to use their pool.

8.  POLITICAL SUPPORT

8.1  MPs 

  Local MP's including Mohammed Sarwar (Govan) and David Marshall (Shettleston) have both pledged support and have tried to liaise with the local council. As many MPs will be aware of their talks with their own local councils that they have not appreciated their involvement. Mr Sarwar referred to the Council Leader as the "City's Godfather" the Untouchable. 

8.2  House of Lords 

  Baroness Kennedy of Pollok had contacted the campaign to register her support as she had apparently used the facilities of the pool.

8.3  MSP's 

  MSP's including Nicola Sturgeon, Dorothy Grace Elder amongst others have brought the Govanhill pool situation to the attention of the Scottish Executive but was unable to gain sufficient support.

8.4  Local Councillors 

  Like many pool campaigns around Britain, local councillors, despite letters, e-mails and visits to the local surgery, sadly have been unwilling to discuss the pool issue in a mature democratic way. This has been the same in Govanhill as in other areas, and has towed the official party line. In areas where one party controlled Town Halls for long periods local democracy suffers and is not popular. In both Liverpool and Lambeth once considered safely controlled Councils the local electorate fed up of such arrogance and voted out the ruling party.

8.5  Other Support 

  Kingston Swimming Club, Queens Park Swimming Club, Govanhill Amateur Swimming Club, Men's Fitness Swimming Club, Talim Trust, Govanhill Housing Association. Various pool campaigns around Britain including Victoria Baths and Gorton Tub in Manchester.

9.  RELIGIOUS SUPPORT

9.1  Local Mosque Leaders 

  Local mosque leaders have supported the campaign as they have lost a valuable local facility that was suitable for Asian women to use. The Council states that they have taken this into account when building new local pools. The extent to which the Council was out of touch was building glass fronted buildings for pools and believing that this would be accepteable to Asian women who are unable to show their legs in public.

9.2  Church Leaders 

  Various denominational church leaders have supported the campaign recognising the importance of local, affordable amenities for the welfare of the local community. Spending several pounds to go swimming by public transport to the nearest pools is not an option for many.

9.3  Synagogue Leaders 

  Synagogue leaders like the other religious leaders have also pledged their support.

9.4  Gudwara Leaders 

  Local temple leaders have also backed the campaign. 

10.  MEDIA 

  Local and national media have covered the campaign recognising the importance of local accountability and democracy. There have been several hundred articles and features in the newspapers, national and local news and radio.

  Journalist of the Decade, Paul Foot, amongst others has written to register his support for the campaign.

11.  THANK YOU FOR LISTENING 

  My father used to work across the road from the Houses of Parliament at Westminster Underground Station. As a child I would often visit him at his work place. He was convinced that politicians at Westminster were not interested in what the average person on the street had to say and was definitely not interested in what the ethnic minorities have to say. I am pleased that times have changed since those times. The pool campaign is fully aware that Heritage is a devolved matter. However, the experiences of Govanhill have national implications and is current and still pending. Whatever the outcome of the your report I am personally enormously grateful to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee for allowing me the time and opportunity to present this case and for listening.

  Elected representatives must listen to their electorate to ensure that the best value and best solutions are found to meet local needs and requirements. If politicians are unwilling to listen they lose touch with their electorate and are unable to deliver on their promises or local needs. It is important in our parliamentary democracy that elected representatives listen and create opportunities to hear from ordinary people. On behalf of the people of Govanhill thank you for listening. 

12.  IN SUMMARY 

12.1  The pool is part of the community 

  Baroness Thatcher (whose name the room bears where the evidence is due to be submitted), once said there is no such thing as Society. When local amenities and community facilities are closed the very fabric of that community is undermined and its very heart destroyed. A situation far worse than Baroness Thatcher's images emerges the community becomes a society of individuals. The health of the individual is affected by the health of the community. Better health arises when the individual feels part of a community and able to participate in the well-being of that society. The Govanhill pool campaign is not just merely about the closure of a valuable local resource, but the saving of a community from the brink of destruction, despair, social deprivation and inequalities that are a common feature in many inner city areas throughout the country.

12.2  Local communities should have the opportunity and a chance to succeed 

  Prince William recently came to see for himself problems in Sighthill. The problems gained national attention sadly when a death arose. Although the worst conflict of Govanhill also occurred around that time we did not get a visit. We do not want violent deaths on our streets in order to gain media attention and Royal visits. The pool campaign is a peaceful protest to re-open a much missed and valued local facility. We do need support and encouragement. Forums such as this Select Committee and meeting our pool campaigns gives us strength and determination to persevere for years if necessary.

12.  RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CONSIDERATION 

1.  Help stop institutional vandalism of our National Heritage by encouraging proper community involvement in their future 

  It is clear that such examples of institutional vandalism are planned although not discussed long in advance of closure. Before a closure of a local facility is proposed, there needs to be widespread local involvement in the preserving of their local facility. The Government has published ideas concerning best value that the local communities are the best source of ideas to solve local problems. It is right that the local community should be involved. In many examples around the country what has been displayed is apparent cowardly acts of leadership, where elected representatives believe that they have a monopoly on good ideas.

2.  Any consideration of closure should take into account the full social impact on the community 

  Government should develop guidelines to ensure that the full impact, (such as health, social exclusion, social and religious factors etc) of the closure of local facilities are properly considered and taken into account.

3.  Proper and accurate assessment of local needs 

  The needs and reasonable realistic expectations of the local community need to be properly assessed and considered. It is clearly a waste of finite public resources when local amenities are not what are required or able to use what they are given due to poor consultation.

  There needs to be a real openness and honesty about the problems to generate solutions.

4.  All sources of funding need to be properly considered an evaluated before closure is considered 

  All sources of funding need to be considered prior to closure to ensure that limited private and public resources are not squandered due to poor action at the appropriate stage by the relevant authorities. In the case of closed swimming pools adequate security and prevention of water penetration needs to be founded and taken into account.

5.  Lottery funding needs to be more flexible 

  The availability of Lottery and other funding needs to be clearly identified and a network of support developed to assist and support local community applications for funding. The threshold needs to be more flexible to take into account local circumstances. This is a very complex area and involved putting together business plans etc that are often abstract to local communities. 

6.  Proper accountability from Public bodies giving local Councils funding 

  Public bodies providing funding to local community should demand a local accountability from local councils to ensure that funds are used for their intended purpose.

7.  The real impact on swimming groups needs to be considered effectively 

  Swimming groups are an important part of widening the sport to a broader appeal enabling young and old to achieve their full potential. Future Olympic champions emerge when they are supported, encouraged and nurtured to achieve their full potential. In the case of Govanhill many of the swimming groups have halved in size, as members are not able to afford the additional transport costs and time needed to travel to new venues.

  The funding of swimming as a sport needs to be considered carefully to ensure that there is a fair distribution of resources at all levels and not just popular or well known cases.

  In Australia where I have just returned in April there is a genuine support at all levels of Government, local councils and communities preventing the likelihood of social exclusion which is now at the heart of Government policy. If a similar approach could be adopted in Britain the quality of swimming in Britain could be dramatically changed.

  The Government and its policies will be assessed on the way it has been delivered. This report from the Calder Street Pool demonstrates that in so many policy documents and reports, Government and public policies are not being implemented at the local council level, in Glasgow and many examples throughout the country.

27 November 2001

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© Parliamentary copyright 2002

Prepared 15 January 2002

Community Councils all over the place need members. Why not try a meeting see whats going on in your district.

2005-10-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

Community councils are voluntary organisations responsible for representing local views to local and central government.
NEWS FLASH
Elections for North Kelvin Community Council are to be held at our AGM on 12th October. At this meeting all the existing members stand down and those who wish to stand again (along with new nominees) are voted in. North Kelvin Community Council URGENTLY needs new members. If insufficient numbers stand for election North Kelvin Community Council will cease to exist. Joining your Community Council is easy and very worth while. The deadline for self nominations has been extended to Sept 30th. Alternatively, simply come along to our Election meeting where it should be possible to vote you in on the spot

If you would like to find out more.
contact us info@northkelvin.net
or
contact the Community Council Resource Centre telephone: 0141 287 4723, write: 8 John St, G1 1JQ quoting 'North Kelvin Community Council Election'.

The AGM and Election Meeting is on Wednesday 12th October, starts 7pm in Queens Cross Community Rooms at 472 Maryhill Rd.

Latest from Govanhill Baths Trust

2005-09-21T02:50:00.000-07:00

Govanhill Baths Community Trust
Registered Scottish Charity No: SC 036162
Latest Media Releases

On the last  version of the media page, we indicated our concern about the council response to our further particulars.

For your interest, we present our response to DRS on this matter.

We write to express our serious disappointment at the ‘conditions’ that have been laid down in Mr Frank Sheridan’s email of 10^th September, 2005. There are a number of reasons for this and they are:
  Govanhill Baths Community Trust
Registered Scottish Charity No: SC 036162 
Latest Media Releases

On the last version of the media page, we indicated our concern about the council response to our further particulars.

For your interest, we present our response to DRS on this matter.


We write to express our serious disappointment at the ‘conditions’ that have been laid down in Mr Frank Sheridan’s email of 10th September, 2005. There are a number of reasons for this and they are:

 

    * no indication was given at the initial call for ‘ further particulars’ by DRS that the timescale would be six months for the delivery of a final package.  Nor was it indicated that this timeframe would include full financial backing, business plan and feasibility study. In fact we were clearly given an indication that the chosen bidders would be given a further six months to develop further their proposals. 

 

    * given the inordinate delay in arriving at a position where prospective bidders would be called for (we were initially told by Mr. Sheridan that this process would be completed by February 2005), we are seriously concerned that a voluntary community group should first of all be given a mere three weeks over the summer holiday period to deliver further particulars about a project and now a mere six months to have all funding and reports in place regarding the development of the complex. Our partner organisation, Govanhill Housing Association and Govanhill Development Trust have made it clear that this is a most unrealistic timeframe. 

 

    * our concerns should be seen against a background in which this Trust was forced to call upon the good offices of MP Mohammed Sarwar, who on our behalf,  brokered a meeting with local MSP and Councillors in order to persuade DRS to grant our architects access to the complex. Notwithstanding this, the Trust was refused any further access after this initial visit. 

 

    * given the complexity of the proposed project and in particular where a community feasibility study has to be undertaken, it is both unrealistic and we believe insulting to the local community and this Board to expect such a deadline to be reached. It should be noted that in its Constitution the Trust lays out its total commitment to the community in respect of the proposed regeneration. 

 

    * we are concerned that a timescale of six months is purely arbitrary and we wondered how DRS arrived at such a conclusion. Indeed we further wondered whether it would be possible for DRS itself or any other large corporation to deliver such a package in six months. 

 

    * In the current climate where the development of the Community Planning Partnerships and Community Health Partnerships have not yet been finalised it is unrealistic to expect anything more than a verbal commitment from such organisations.   

 

    * We believe, as do our partners, that if the Council is seriously determined to uphold a commitment to delivering real community participation then it would be actively demonstrating a determination to provide opportunities that would assist the community and this Trust’s creative, innovative regeneration scheme. Instead, we believe the deadline suggests otherwise. 

 

    * quite clearly DRS and the Council have placed us in direct competition with a UK-wide building group with established working and business links and partnership work with Glasgow Alliance, which in its turn is funded by Glasgow City Council. We also note that John Gallagher of Crudens , as reported on the Glasgow Alliance website, is its Finance and Personnel Director.  In consequence we are of the view that this ‘competition’ is not cast on a level playing field. Not least because of our relative and different scale of resources but also because Crudens is a profit making organisation with funding readily available and we are by formal charity status, ‘not for profit’. 

 

    * Crudens Estates is intent on demolishing the building. This desire quite clearly contradicts: 

 

1.      the clear wishes of the community as represented by the all the local Community Councils;

2.      all the previous user groups of the closed Govanhill Baths;

3.      our own partners as listed in the document submitted to DRS, including constituency MP Mohammed Sarwar;

4.      Historic Scotland, Architectural Heritage Trust, Glasgow Building Preservation Trust amongst others have made it clear that they believe the building must remain in its original use as a functioning Baths;

5.      the recommendations of the GCC commissioned Park & Page/Edaw report (2002) and the separately community commissioned Archie Fairley report (2003);

6.      the preference of at least 82 local businesses (that we ourselves identified in August 2005 in a preliminary marketing study)

7.      a very considerable and recent community petition drawing on some 4,000-community signatures.

8.      support from various public bodies, Glasgow councillors and MSP’s together with a letter, from the office of the Minister for Communities, commending the project and our determination to see the baths reopened as a Healthy Living Centre.

9.      The clear policy imperative of the Scottish Executive in relation to healthy living, particularly in the context of urban and deprived areas. More so is this the case in Govanhill set in Shettleston where national statistics continue to show major health inequalities compared to other more affluent areas.

 

Thus, in the light of the foregoing, we would formally request that there is a major extension to the timescale outlined in Mr. Sheridan’s letter. We believe that this timescale should be both justified and consistent with what we have been advised would be reasonable to achieve by a voluntary community based initiative.

 

Alternatively, we believe that there should be a negotiated discussion between the council, our Board and our professional partners with regard to what can be realistically achieved in six months.

 

We are confident that you will be disposed to give this matter your most urgent attention.

 

Community Partnership Planning Meeting

 

At a Community Partnership Conference in the Hidden Gardens on 15th September the new leader of the council, Steven Purcell, addressed a large gathering of people who were reviewing the East Pollokshields Community Planning project funded by Rowntree. Lord Richard Best Director of the Rowntree Foundation introduced and chaired the conference.  

 

In his address and subsequent discussion Steven Purcell  made clear that;

    * he was totally committed to the concept of community partnership and had ensured that he would chair the council group in this area.
    * that the council would continue to make decisions it thought best because it was democratically elected to do so 
    * there would be a need to change of culture in the council in respect of how decisions were made and he was "well up for the debate about how decisions were made".
    * social renewal and regeneration were at the heart of the agenda and there was a need for there to be more focus on people.
    * the Council's role along with Community Partnerships was to tackle problems identified by people and show that people can make a difference.
    * The council's role was to offer strategic direction for the city in respect of the central issues (e.g. health, education, housing, culture and leisure services etc.) 

Some 80 community members were present and an overriding feeling was expressed that the expectations of local people were not being met and that this was a challenge to the local authority.

Here come the plans and the maps and the predictions for even more wide-scale economic, social and environmental improvements???

2005-09-12T00:54:00.000-07:00

Clyde Waterfront

The River Clyde at Glasgow
A 15-year plan is underway to transform areas around the River Clyde into a vibrant area to live and work. Key projects - attracting a projected £1.67 billion worth of public investment - are being promoted by a range of partners, including Scottish Enterprise.

Supporters are confident their projects will create 33,000 jobs - 23,000 of them new to Scotland. They also predict the regeneration scheme will bring wide-scale economic, social and environmental improvements to the area and Scotland as a whole.

The Clyde Waterfront regeneration area covers eight miles of river - from Glasgow city centre in the east to the Erskine Bridge in the west. As well as business, leisure and housing developments near the river, the plans also include proposals for improved transport links and new bridges.

Gather people's views on Community Planning

2005-08-27T01:11:00.000-07:00

We need to gather people's views on Community Planning and proposals for communities to participate in decision-making in the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership.

Local activists and volunteers from community groups/voluntary organisations may have experience of previous regeneration programmes e.g. Social Inclusion Partnerships, Priority Partnerships, and Urban Programme.

Is Community Planning another programme to ensure the lid is kept on any challenging community voices or can we expect communities to be at the heart of Community Planning in Glasgow?

Community Engagement Consultation Document was launched by the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership on 22nd August 2005. It can be downloaded from the website at:
http://www.glasgowcpp.org.uk/

How should communities be involved in Community Planning? People could add their ideas to the blog from now and until the end of October 2005. We could collate their suggestions and comments in to a collective response to the consultation.