These minutes will be submitted to our February meeting for review and approval
Attended by: Tam Coyle (Chair), Community Councillors Gary Atkinson, Alice Cowan, David Cowan, David Hughes, Niall McColl, Gordon Millar, Scott Thornton and Ros Wardley-Atkinson ; Associate Community Councillors Peter Hayman and Ross Naismith; Ward Councillors Angus Millar and Depute Lord Provost Christy Mearns; Police Sergeant Iain Cooper-Cairns, PCs Nathan Baxter and Gentian Rapi; RA, KB, RE, DF, GF, KL, CMcI, EMi, PP, TMcK
Apologies: Community Councillor Colin McKay, Ward Councillor Philip Braat, AMcD
By video link: GAl, EMa
1. Minutes of November meeting
These had been published on the Community Council’s Website.,
Adoption proposed by Gordon Millar, seconded by David Hughes. Carried.
2. Police Report
PC Baxter said that from 1-28 January a total of 107 crimes had been reported of which 49 had been detected. These included theft (especially from retail premises), possession of controlled substances and road traffic offences.
Local ‘Days of Action’ against illegal e-bikes and scooters had been running regularly since December, resulting in the seizure of 19 e-bikes with 79 offences reported to the Procurator Fiscal. These deployments would continue into February. In response to a question he said E-bikes can be classified as motor vehicles if ridden on pavements.
He and PC Moore had been joined as beat officers in the MCTCC area by PCs Rapi and McLeod. Scott said the Community Council was pleased about the increase in beat officers and the successful crackdown on illegally modified e-bikes.
Gordon asked what happened to seized e-bikes. PC Baxter said policy set by the Scottish Government was due to be changed and these bikes might no longer be returned to the rider.
Tam reiterated MCTCC’s call for all food delivery riders to be identifiable by a numbered tabard or bag, in case of an accident.
In response to a question from Scott PC Baxter said riders whose machines were impounded had to pay a release fee to the recovery company, not to police or Glasgow City Council (GCC)
Priority deployment locations, determined as a result of police observation of trends and in response to community needs, had included the Ramshorn Graveyard and New/Old Wynds. Plain clothed officers supplemented uniformed police.
There would be a substantial police presence in connection with the next football match between Celtic and Rangers at Parkhead on 16 March.
Tam noted that he and the two Vice-chairs are due to meet MSP Kaukab Stewart on 11 March when anti-social behaviour by football fans would be on the agenda.
Gordon asked what police were doing about graffiti. PC Baxter said this was regarded as vandalism but he had no statistics for arrests.
RA reported observing an incident outside the Glassford Street post office in which a man was carrying a knife and the shop owner had reported previous such incidents. PC Baxter said he would contact the shop owner to discuss this. Anyone caught up in such an incident should call 999.
CMcI (Colin McInnes, Homeless Project Scotland) said his project had equipment which detected if knives or similar including razor blades were being carried. It operated a Zero Tolerance policy.
He contended that Ward Councillors and MCTCC had not been supportive of HPS’ initiative in creating a homeless shelter in Glassford Street.
Councillor Millar said Glasgow City Council’s consideration of HPS’ planning application was ongoing following the Scottish Government’s dismissal of its appeal against an Enforcement Notice. HPS had never contacted him.
Depute Lord Provost Mearns said HPS had not been the easiest organisation to deal with. She herself had been a volunteer at its soup kitchen. She supported the initiative but not the way HPS had gone about it.
Scott said MCTCC was very much concerned about the plight of the homeless and had worked with The Simon Community which had delivered a presentation at a public meeting. The main reason CMcI was attending the meeting was so he could issue statements to the media.
He asked CMcCi if he was a resident of the Merchant City and Trongate area since only such residents could speak at the Community Council’s meetings. CMcI said he was the owner of a business in the area. Tam said MCTCC is constituted as a residents’ forum, not a business one.
Tam said he had attended the opening of the Thistle project (Safe drugs consumption facility in Hunter Street) and had been impressed, However, what happened after the building was closed at 9 pm?
PC Baxter said he could be contacted for advice on any matter via the Chair or Secretary.
3. Elected Members Reports
Councillor Millar said new legislation allowing local authorities to ban pavement parking, double parking and on double yellow lines would come into effect tomorrow throughout the city centre and elsewhere in Glasgow where there was no ambiguity about whether exemptions would be required.
For the first two weeks offenders would be given a warning notice and after that fines would be imposed. GCC’s computer systems had been amended to deal with this. It was recruiting more parking attendants.
He said work would start on re-developing George Square in a couple of months. Before that an exhibition would be set up in a corner of the Square followed by a comprehensive surrounding hoarding summarising the project and the area’s history.
In answer to a question from Ross, he said a water feature remains part of the plan but this would depend on costs not being prohibitive. This would be one of the last implementation items. Lessons had been learned from problems encountered in Sauchiehall Street including those concerning contract management.
KL asked about the re-siting of the taxi rank from George Square because of its re-development. Angus said he would check the latest position.
He said he had been advised by Councillor Bolander that benches currently in George Square would be re-positioned elsewhere and she had suggested that two should be placed outside the Ramshorn graveyard.
Councillor Millar said Council officers and factors had met to arrange a tidy-up of messy bins around Virginia Street and a new bin hub might be installed.
In answer to a question from RA about bin collections around Brunswick Street Councillor Millar suggested she should take up the matter with Louise Stewart at GCC.
Councillor Millar would join Community Councillors on a Walkabout through the MCTCC area on 14 February (12 noon to 1.30) to assess problems and plan remediations. The other three Ward Councillors would also be invited.
Depute Lord Provost Mearns said early morning noise problems reported by neighbours of Pipeworks “gentlemen’s sauna” in Metropole Lane seemed to have eased.
She had been following up the status of the development of the Ingram Street car park which MCTCC has campaigned unsuccessfully to be turned into Merchant City’s first park.
Tam said he understood GCC had given the developer six months in which to provide measures to mitigate noise to potential neighbours. This would expire on 14 February.
David Hughes said Glasgow Life had installed air conditioning fans on the roof of City Halls without planning permission. Peter said this was a separate issue to previous objections, raised by MCTCC and others, that due to the ‘Agent of Change’ principle a music venue could be closed down because of complaints from neighbours. EMi said that furthermore no impact assessment had been carried out.
Depute Lord Provost Mearns said an enforcement notice had been served on developers (now in administration) who had left a building site on Dixon Street in an eyesore state for a year or so.
RA asked what GCC was doing about pigeons. Councillor Millar said the Council was limited as to what it could do legally and a cull was out of the question. Community Enforcement Officers could ask those feeding the pigeons not to do so and this could be considered a littering offence.
Scott said road signage at the Stockwell Street-Bridgegate-Clyde Street junction was confusing since it suggested East-bound vehicles should turn left into Stockwell Street whereas that led them into a bus lane. Drivers realising the error or simply wanting to jump the queue then had to move right towards other oncoming traffic to avoid entering a cycle lane. GCC officials had indicated they would change the signage but so far nothing had happened and the situation remained chaotic.
4. Planning Issues
David Hughes said the next meeting of the North West Area Partnership would be on 25 February when the Neighbourhood Infrastructure Fund would again be a prominent agenda item. He had been annoyed to receive the latest criteria which included an unexpected addition saying funding bids including ‘business as usual’ items such as road improvements would no longer be included. This affected some of the 73 projects proposed by MCTCC.
Ross, MCTCC Planning lead, said he would like to see more pedestrianisation in the upper part of Candleriggs. Scott said this could not be pedestrian only because patrons had to access the City Halls and Old Fruitmarket venues.
Ross said he had written to GCC about the inadequate design of the High Street Avenues project and hoped for Ward Councillors’ support. Councillor Millar agreed the design was not as vibrant as those for other Avenues projects and he would request an update. The High Street was relatively narrow and this imposed space restraints.
On 30 January Community Councillors would attend further presentations on the Custom Quay-Clyde Street Avenues project. it was important the two sections were aligned.
Ross said the ‘Trees for Streets’ scheme was not the answer to the Community Council’s demand for more trees in its area. A better solution was for MCTCC to buy the trees and get GCC to plant them. Scott noted that David Cowan was representing the Community Council at an online Postcode Lottery funding seminar on Friday.
Ross thought a children’s play area should be considered for vacant land at the junction of George and High Streets.
5. Local Place Plan (LPP)
David Hughes noted that MCTCC was preparing its own LPP which would govern use of land and buildings and feed into the new City Development Plan (CDP2) and National Planning Framework (NPF4). Community priorities would be taken into account in planning decisions.
It could also include over-arching statements e.g. “we believe there is a surfeit of student accommodation and there is a need for a community centre and doctor’s surgery”.
A useful reference for drafting the LPP was the Merchant City Regeneration Handbook which mentioned reducing traffic flow in the High Street.
He asked Ward Councillors what was the timeline/deadline for submission of an LPP. Tam said he thought it was the end of March.
6. Litter Pick
The Community Council’s next Litter Pick will take place on Saturday 22 February from 10.30 am to 1 pm (meet outside the Ramshorn graveyard), organised by David Hughes. Volunteers were welcome and equipment would be provided.
Posters will be distributed. Impact Arts’ students may assist.
7. Friends of the Ramshorn Graveyard
David Hughes, FORG Chairman, will be briefing young people from Impact Arts who will produce artwork for a virtual tour prior to public tours starting in the Summer.
8. Public Toilets
Scott said MCTCC had submitted its comments to GCC and the British Toilet Association as part of the City Council’s public consultation.
9. Communications and Community Engagement
Scott said the sub-group meeting due on 21 January did not take place and he would try to arrange another one. A prime subject was creation of the Community Council’s new Website, a prime tool for communicating with local residents.
10. Treasurer’s Report
Gordon reported £,6,884.39 in the bank. MCCTC had received its administration grant of £607.95 from GCC. The Zoom licence of £155 was due.
NEXT MEETING: Tuesday 25 February, 6.30-8.30 pm in City Chambers