Press Releases

Merchant City and Trongate Community Council (MCTCC) is looking for “people of all ages who want to make the heart of Glasgow an even better place to live, work, study and relax.”

Thousands of explanatory leaflets have been distributed to residents and businesses and it will be taking part in Glasgow Life’s Volunteers Fair in City Chambers from 10 to 4 pm on Tuesday 15 September.

MCTCC’s recent initiatives have included campaigning for a community hub, park, play park and GP surgery, improving recycling facilities, cleaning up the Clyde river banks, organising litter picks, tackling graffiti and anti-social behaviour, safeguarding historic buildings and those of architectural importance, advising on the Avenues street projects and contributing to Glasgow’s new 10 year City Development Plan.

As an elected statutory body it is consulted by Glasgow City Council (GCC) on all licensing and planning applications and represents the area on many outside forums. It is a focal point for residents’ meetings with senior GCC officers, elected Councillors, police, the media and the local MP and MSP.

A spokesperson commented: “We are a dynamic group of volunteers with the interests of local residents, businesses and the increasing number of visitors at the centre of all we do. We already do a lot but would love to achieve even more. To do so we need more people to help make our aims a reality and improve many aspects of local life.

“There’s no time commitment or pressure. It’s amazing what can be achieved in just a couple of hours. Volunteering with us is also a great way to make friends and learn more about the city centre.”

Those interested should email info@mctcc.scot or see https://mctcc.scot.

The longest recorded wait time on 101 so far this year was more than two hours 14 minutes in June. In four other months between January and July the figure was almost or more than an hour and a half.

Merchant City and Trongate Community Council (MCTCC), which submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Police Scotland (PS) after receiving complaints from local residents, described the service as “radically unfit for purpose” and called for an urgent increase in staffing and technology.

Official PS statistics show the percentage of discontinued calls increased from an average of 30.5% between January and May to well over 42% in June and July.

“Police officers themselves speak openly about how poor 101 is – and the problem is getting worse,” an MCTCC spokesperson said. “Well meaning people are ringing 101 to report a suspected crime but slamming down the phone in frustration. By the time they get an answer it’s almost certain the suspects have moved on.”

In its response to the residents’ association’s FOI request Police Scotland said: “Calls received from the public via 101 are treated as a normal priority and answered when there is a suitable service adviser available but there are no higher priority calls waiting.”

It said a total of 480 full time equivalent staff are employed on the 101 and 999 emergency calls services and staffing was not recorded separately.

The MCTCC spokesperson added: “Call volumes to the non-emergency numbers are huge – as many as 100,000 a month – so it’s a huge task but this is being dangerously under-resourced.

“It’s usually apparent if there’s a real emergency but there’s an understandable tendency among the public not to want to bother the emergency services if they’re not sure. Police work hard to keep people and properties safe and deserve much more central support, including better technology. These statistics are shocking and  deteriorating. The service is patently radically unfit for purpose. It needs an urgent overhaul.”

The spokesperson said other Community Councils in the centre of Glasgow reported similar concerns at a joint meeting last month.

She joined one of almost 50 tours booked this Summer by Friends of the Ramshorn Graveyard (FORG), an initiative of Merchant City and Trongate Community Council.

Dating from 1719 and where many of Glasgow’s most famous citizens are buried, the Ingram Street site pre-dates the city’s landmark Necropolis by more than 100 years.

FORG Chairman David Hughes (pictured with the Lord Provost) who led the tour, commented:

“The Lord Provost was keen to hear about the merchants and craftsmen who laid the foundations that established Glasgow as a Victorian powerhouse. Her own insights about past Lords Provost buried in the Graveyard added to the interest levels of others on the tour.”

Those interred in the Graveyard  include the ‘Tobacco Barons,’ the city’s richest residents who made fortunes from importing tobacco from Virginia, John Anderson who founded the forerunner of the University of Strathclyde, and David Dale, founder of New Lanark, the industrial community 25 miles from Glasgow which is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Tours of the Ingram Street site take place on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. They are free although donations are invited. To book email tours@ramshorngraveyard.org.

This was the fifth year in succession that the local residents we represent have witnessed serious civil disorder, littering, property damage and their streets being taken over following a Celtic Premiership title win.

After each of the previous four episodes of lawlessness, MCTCC called on the club and Glasgow City Council (GCC) to come up with a plan to stop it happening again. They have sadly failed to do. Frankly, we despair.

It is obvious that Celtic FC has no control over these supporters who ignored its belated appeal – delivered 24 hours before the final match of the season – and the equally 11th hour public intervention of GCC to celebrate peacefully.

The outcome was sadly all too predictable.

Recent meetings at senior level with Glasgow City Council left us with no confidence that anything would be different this year than at the end of previous Premiership seasons.

Despite several appeals to Celtic FC we have never received a single reply.

On Saturday residents saw thousands of Celtic fans descending on Trongate and Glasgow Cross, climbing up a historic building, setting off flares and firecrackers, littering streets all round the city centre with bottles and cans, and blocking main roads including the High Street and Saltmarket.

Physical assaults on police officers compounded the felony.

All the while shops, including supermarkets, were dispensing alcohol with no question asked.

Many businesses simply closed their doors. Many residents knew what was coming and fled their homes for the weekend.

The price to taxpayers is once again substantial. Even more police were on duty this year than the 350 who tried to cope in 2025. The costs of cleaning the streets and repairs to property will again add to the public’s bill.

Once again the image of Scotland’s biggest city – shortly to be ‘Proud Host’ of the Commonwealth Games – has been dragged down by the inabilities of the local authority and Celtic FC to stop such anti-social behaviour.

Merchant City and Trongate Community Council (MCTCC) submitted a Freedom of Information request to Police Scotland asking for the cost of policing the fans’ “title parties’ at and around Glasgow Cross in May 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. These caused widespread damage and disruption in Glasgow city centre each time.

In response Police Scotland said it did not collect such data and added: “The nature of policing means that officers are deployed to wherever their services are most required and as such costs of policing such events are not routinely
calculated.”
Speaking after this year’s event, Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell said 320 police were on duty and a minority of fans “set off pyrotechnics, used inflammatory banners, (committed) violence and disorder…the impact on residents, businesses, tourism and cost to the taxpayer cannot be ignored.”

A spokesperson for MCTCC commented: “It is astonishing for Police Scotland to admit it doesn’t have a clue what it cost to bring some kind of order to these events which have blighted Glasgow city centre for years. Policing is not free. This is an insult to taxpayers who, year after year, have had to foot the bill.

“This May more than 300 officers had to be called upon to safeguard residents, visitors, traffic and property. The expense of all that was substantial, in addition to the costs of cleaning up afterwards.”

Merchant City and Trongate Community Council and the neighbouring Calton Community Council have repeatedly asked Celtic FC to organise and pay for its own Premiership celebration events. Both have written to the Club’s Chief Executive and Chairman but have never received a reply.

MCTCC has now submitted a formal challenge to Police Scotland’s response, saying there is an urgent need for transparency and that public interest demanded such figures were made available.

In 2021 it also complained about Rangers’ supporters’ disruption of the George Square area when the team won the league title that year.

The County Grand Lodge of Glasgow is listed as the organiser of a VE (Victory in Europe) Day 80th Anniversary event on Saturday May 17 when Celtic play their final league game of the season against St Mirren at Parkhead.

In the past two years an estimated 25,000 of the team’s fans have converged on Glasgow Cross, resulting in widespread damage and anti-social behaviour.

Merchant City and Trongate Community Council questioned the Orange Lodge’s decision to hold its parade on this day rather than when other VE events are taking place throughout Scotland and the rest of the UK.

A spokesperson commented: “Making it the same date as the anticipated Celtic celebrations risks making a bad situation even worse. Residents and businesses in and around Glasgow Cross are already concerned about serious disruption following the Celtic-St Mirren match. Police are likely to have their hands full just dealing with that.”

Around 2,500 people are expected to take part in the March, with more following alongside. It is due to start near the Royal Infirmary and go through the city centre before heading across the River Clyde to end at Kinning Park.

VE Day is celebrated on May 8 each year, and events in around Glasgow will take place on the weekend of May 10/11 as well as a service of thanksgiving at Glasgow Cathedral on 8 May. On the same day UK Government buildings will observe a two-minute national silence at 12 noon.

The spokesperson added: “The presence of tens of thousands of Celtic and Orange Lodge supporters in the city on the same day is an unwelcome and possibly inflammatory mix. We call on Glasgow City Council and the County Grand Lodge to get together to arrange for the parade to take place on a different date.”

Glasgow Kelvin MSP Kaukab Stewart convened a high level meeting at Hampden Park on 28 March in an attempt to prevent a recurrence of the disruptions of 2023 and 2024 at Glasgow Cross and surrounds. 

Among those attending the meeting were the Chief Executive of the Scottish Professional Football League, senior officials of Celtic FC, the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, representatives of Celtic and Rangers’ fans, and representatives of Calton and Merchant City and Trongate and Community Councils. However, there was no agreement on practical measures to stop the possibility of more civil disorder on May 17.

In 2019 Glasgow City Council said it was investigating whether a moratorium on public processions could be introduced to ease community tensions while a new long-term approach to parades was considered.

In response to an enquiry from Merchant City and Trongate Community Council Darren Lambie, the City Council’s Group Manager for Community Safety, said that as part of a budgetary review its Out of Hours Domestic Noise Service had stopped actively responding to complaint calls at the end of August.

The two remaining officers would provide advice only between 5 pm and 3 am.

A spokesperson for Merchant City and Trongate Council commented: “Anti-social noise late at night and in the wee small hours of the morning is a blight on the daily lives of thousands of city centre residents every year.

“Much of this has been happening with little, no or late meaningful intervention. Incidents are often repeated. Now we know the Council isn’t even going to pretend it’s taking action. What kind of ‘advice’ are the remaining two members of staff going to offer people who can’t get a decent night’s sleep because of noisy neighbours?”

Mr Lambie said the Council’s Environmental Health section would continue to operate its out of noise commercial noise service which deals with complaints about pubs and other licensed premises.

Peter Hayman, who stepped down as a full member of Merchant City and Trongate Community Council (MCTCC) in October, was presented with a commemorative trophy in recognition of his achievement.

Active in a Community Council in Ayrshire before moving to Glasgow, he has specialised most recently in reviewing planning applications as well as campaigning for more active travel facilities, especially for cyclists. He remains an Associate Community Councillor.

Community Council Chair Tam Coyle commented: “We know of no other Community Councillor in Scotland who has achieved such a remarkable milestone. Peter can look back with pride on five decades of work on behalf of his fellow citizens who have benefitted greatly from his vast experience, insights, experience and knowledge.”

Community Councils in Scotland were launched in 1973 by an Act of Parliament which defined their purpose as “to ascertain, co-ordinate and express to the Local Authorities for its area … the views of the community it represents, in relation to matters for which those authorities are responsible.” There are currently approximately 1,200 active Community Councils in Scotland.

Photo: Left to right Depute Lord Provost Baillie Christy Mearns, Tam Coyle, Peter’s wife Anne and Peter Hayman.