These minutes were approved at our meeting on 28 June 2022.
31 May 2022 at 7pm in Glasgow City Chambers and online via Zoom
1. Welcome
Tam Coyle welcomed everyone to the meeting
2. Attendance and Apologies
2.1 Community Councillors
Carla Arrighi; Gary Atkinson; Tam Coyle; David Cowan; Peter Hayman; Niall McColl; Eileen Mills; Scott Thornton;
2.2 Residents
TK; TM; GM; AP; AS; RWS; AW
2.3 Elected Members
Cllr Eva Bolander; Cllr Phillip Braat; Cllr Angus Millar
2.4 Ex-officio
Rob Wilson and Amer Mohamed (?)(Police Scotland); Lorenzo Mele (Merchant City Festival)
2.5 Apologies
Kaukab Stewart MSP; Depute Lord Provost Christy Mearns
3. Minutes of Last Meeting (26 April 2022)
3.1 Corrections to minutes
No changes were requested
3.2 Approval
Proposed by: Peter Hayman Seconded by: Tam Coyle
3.3 Matters Arising
None
4 Treasurer’s Report
- Balance is £1924.75 as of 11th May
- Expecting 7K donation from the filming disruption earlier in the year – want suggestions on what to do with it
5. Police Report
5.1 Report
- No major issues of concern at the moment
5.2 Questions
5.2.1 Tam – St Enoch square – what’s the current situation?
- Restated the safer Glasgow City Centre Policing Plan now in place
- Supporting with Bernardo’s on identifying diversionary strategies
5.2.2 Scott Thornton – Have there been any issues at the axe throwing bar in St Enoch?
- Nothing that has reached the police
- Rob will follow up with centre management
- Is it illegal to park on a pavement on double yellow lines on a Sunday
- Parking fully on the pavement is an offence
- Parking partly on the pavement is a grey area
- Particular issue on Ropeworks Lane (as well as other places)
- Parking on double yellow lines is for Glasgow City Council
- Follow-up – Eva
- Pedestrian access is equally important, so someone being forced onto the road due to a vehicle parked on the pavement, that could be considered an obstruction, depending on circumstances.
- Gordon Miller – electric bikes and scooters on Buchanan St going far too quickly, Is there any plans to tackle this?
- Police have been in contact with delivery companies to pass on a road safety message, will be followed up with an action plan to target issues. 2 pronged – awareness and enforcement
- Follow-up – Phillip
- Delivery cyclists are the main culprit for causing injuries to others – action has been taken against them in other parts of the city.
- Is it an offence if they are on the pavement, or if they are caught driving onto the pavement
- Both are an offence
6. Merchant City Festival (MCF)
6.1 Presentation
- Will cover Merchant City (Hutcheson St, Wilson St, Brunswick St, Candleriggs, Bell St) and George Square
- Thursday 28 to Sunday 31 July
- Thurs 4.30 – 9pm
- Fri 12 non – 9pm
- Sat 12 – 9pm
- Sun – 12 – 8pm
-
210 events including several premiers and a marble run world record attempt
- Brunswick stage
- Increased licence area, managed by Amsterdam
- Stage closes at 9pm, outdoor drinking can continue to 10pm as normal
- Get involved fund for businesses
- Plan something that fits in with the overall programme
- Markets
- Craft market – Focussing on locally based makers
- Small street food market, again locally based
- Trying to encourage visitors to use Merchant City facilities
- Advertising
- No printed brochure – will all be done via social media
- For non-online visitors there will be posters, radio campaign
- Each day there will be day sheets around the site with details of the days’ events
- Additional signposting, and will use large flag banners from previous years
- Residents and business awareness events to be planned
6.2 Questions
6.2.1 Peter – MCTCC contribution
* He and Lorenzo will have a separate more detailed discussion
6.2.2 Scott – Business Involvement fund, what are the conditions
- All businesses within the closed roads boundary
- Up to £500 for a small performance, building decoration
- Very open in terms of what the businesses can do
6.2.3 Niall – impact on wedding venues such as Citation
* MCF will communicate to all the businesses - being planned just now
7. Elected Members Reports
7.1 Cllr Eva Bolander
- Temporary Street Cafe licensing for businesses in the city centre
- Putting procedures in place to allow simplified process.
- Trial for 2 years
- Simplified planning procedure
- Will have to have a plan and layout of their site on display
- Will have to pay for the space they use – per m2
- Complaints process will be simplified – 3 strikes and you’re out
- Area Partnership – next meeting 30/6
- Gary is our rep
- Green Open Space Fund
- Another round of funding is available
- Project ideas are welcome
- Film Office
- Not been able to meet with officers
- Ramshorn
- Not been able to meet yet
- LEZ comes into effect 1 June 2022
7.2 Cllr Angus Millar
- LEZ technically in force from 1/6/22
- Will only be enforced from 1/6/23
- Exemption for residents until 1/6/24
- Applies to petrol vehicles before 2006, diesel before 2014
- King St car park site planning in principle approved
- Individual components will need detailed planning permission
- City Centre Transformation Plan
- Consultation likely to take place July 2022
- 10 week consultation period
- Football related anti social behaviour
- Past events could create an unfortunate precedent
- Didn’t transpire with the recent Rangers match
- Trongate was cleared of debris very quickly
- Meeting planned with new Chief Inspector – what can the police and council do together to ensure such behaviour doesn’t happen again
7.3 Questions
7.3.1 Eileen What do you mean by a parklet outside Ramshorn?
- Bench with planters either side of it
7.3.2 Tam – Ramshorn Funding secured in Feb, but it is still not open. Why not?
- Possible Solution - temporarily, get the janitors at the Cochrane St gatehouse to open and close the gates, would only take a few minutes at the start and end of the day
- Arranging meeting of Friends of Ramshorn - Eva can book meeting room in City Chambers or iCafe.
7.3.3 Peter – How are we going to reduce traffic usage in the city centre
- Refer back to the city centre transformation plan which outlines how that will be achieved over time
7.3.4 Eileen – what about fan zones for football fans? Other cities have them.
- Fan zone in Merchant Square for away fans for most games, though often used by Celtic. Have been there for 5 years.
7.3.4 David – Licence plate checker for LEZ needs to be more accurate
8. Planning (including Merchant City Park)
8.1 St Enoch Centre Redevelopment (Reference 22/00817/PPP)
- Generally in favour
- Reservations about height of hotel
- Closing date is 1 June – Peter has written a draft response from MCTCC
8.2 Ingram St Car Park (Reference 22/01225/FUL)
- There seem to be 2 applications with the same reference – Tam will raise with Susan Connelly
- Notification period – 28 days from date of letter, which should be 21 June. Website says 17 June
- Making representations -Not clear in notification letter or on website about how representations can be made. Seems to be clear in the Glasgow Times article, for example ability to send by post
- Inconsistencies in the email address – new address is planning.representations@glasgow.gov.uk
- Demonstration on Saturday 4 June at iCafe Merchant City between 12noon and 3pm
8.2.1 Motion
The following motion was proposed by Peter Hayman: Merchant City & Trongate Community Council maintain their commitment agreed at their January 2019 meeting “their wish to see the site adjacent to the Old fruit Market bounded by Candleriggs, Ingram & Albion streets become a green, multi function community park.”
To this end, having the site built on would be incompatible and they object to any plans to do so.
- Carried with no objections
- Cllrs Eva Bolander and Angus Millar restated that they are not part of the CC decision – Eva as she is chair of planning, and Angus as he’s chair of City Property
8.3 136 Ingram St (Reference 22/01016/FUL)
- Closing date 10 June
- Niall will send Gary details of the NY Slice application
9. Licensing
No new licensing applications
10. Social Media
No time for update
11. Any Other Business
11.1 Harry Styles
40,000+ fans will be in the city centre in a couple of weeks time for the Harry Styles concert. Just for awareness, although the event is taking place at Ibrox
Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday 28th June at 7pm.