Hamiltonhill Action Group Launches ‘Tenants Offensive’

Having publicised their situation throughout and beyond Glasgow, Hamiltonhill Action Group have now gained the support of the Scottish Tenants Organisation as well as neighbouring estates giving further signs of solidarity and support. The Action Group are holding a weekly stall immediately outside GHA headquarters and have made contact with several other resident’s groups in Glasgow. There have also been a large number of unaffiliated social housing residents coming up to the stall to share stories and generally showing GHA that Glasgow is supporting the campaign for better social housing, whether it is in Possil, Parkhead or Pollokshields.

Chain Gang: Glitzy £1m Maryhill Burgh Halls launch sees St. Gregory’s/Wyndford School Protest

31st January 2009: £1m was today donated by the Heritage Lottery Fund to reopen Maryhill Burgh Halls and attached swimming pool.

This is the outcome of years of campaigning by local people who refused to give up and see their community resources turned into private developments as the Council originally intended.

But the glitzy media launch was marred by protests from parents of the nearby Wyndford and St. Gregory’s Primary schools, which Glasgow City Council plans to close early this Summer.

Green Light to Brown Envelopes

In a panicky response to the dreaded credit crunch, Glasgow City Council has decided to fast track sale of publicly owned land on an ‘off market’ basis.
Its Executive committee meeting of 23rd January 2009 was informed that the formerly all powerful private developer interests have been abandoning the deals they had already made, leaving the old neo-liberal demolish-and-privatise strategy in disarray.

It now appears some two-thirds of Glasgow tenants – in 46,272 of its current 69,395 houses – will remain in a “rump GHA”

It now appears some two-thirds of Glasgow tenants – in 46,272 of its current 69,395 houses – will remain in a “rump GHA”

The Glasgow Herald (David Leask) reported on the 30th August that ‘It now appears some two-thirds of Glasgow tenants – in 46,272 of its current 69,395 houses – will remain in a “rump GHA”.’

New Houses

Glasgow City Council has announced its new build housing proposed funding for 2007/08. Local plans are:

Housing Association	Location	Number of new flats/houses
Cairn	Strachur Street	41
Cube	Shawpark Street	11 homeless
Maryhill	Campbell Street	49
Maryhill	Botany	40
Maryhill	Shuna Street	52
North Glasgow	Elmvale	41
North Glasgow	Mireton Street	65
North Glasgow	Carron Street	16
North Glasgow	Kilearn Street	12 particular needs
Queens Cross	Sanda Street	32
Queens Cross	Oban Drive	50 particular needs
Queens Cross	Springbank Street	5 particular needs
Queens Cross	840 Garscube Road	16 particular needs
West of Scotland	Petershill Road	16
West of Scotland	Cowlairs	40

Another three bids were not approved, but were been placed on a reserve list, so might be funded later:

Queens Cross	Murano Street	74
Loretto	Balmore Road	90 particular needs
North Glasgow	Petershill Road	40

Demolition Plans

TWO thirds of Maryhill’s former council houses are to be torn down.

Exclusive

Glasgow Housing Association is set to demolish most of its flats in Maryhill over the next nine years.

The demolition decision was rubber stamped at an 11th February meeting of the GHA’s Local Housing Organisation committee in Maryhill – a group of selected local tenants.

Most of the cleared land will be sold to developers to build private houses for sale.

To be demolished:
• All of The Valley
• All of Gairbraid
• All three blocks of the Glenavon multi storey flats
• Three of the five Lyndale blocks – 9, 11, 15 Lyndale Road

To be kept:
• Cumlodden estate
• Shiskine Drive
• Fingal Street
• Two of the five Lyndale blocks – 1 Lyndale Place and 5 Lyndale Road

RIGHTS
If your flat is scheduled for demolition you have a right to be re-housed in a like-for-like flat, with normally three different offers allowed. You are not guaranteed a local move. Housing space needs are taken into account – so single people may not get more than a two apartment, even if they are moving from a larger flat.
As with everything else, the more you stand up and fight, the better the offer you end up getting. Courts will not grant large numbers of eviction decrees for a demolition.

GHA say they hope they will be able to build new back and front door houses for tenants in the cleared sites. GHA admit that about half of the cleared land will be given over to private housing developments, but say they hope to get enough rented housing to let about half of the current tenants back in.

The GHA plan calls for half of the cleared site to be sold to private developers, with enough new rented houses and flats built on the rest to re-house half of the cleared tenants. But uncertainty surrounds the numbers, with funding for new build not yet agreed.

ACTION
A Maryhill Tenants Action Group is being proposed to help ensure a good deal for affected tenants – contact us for more details.

Botany Betrayed

THE new Maryhill plan – new back and front door houses for half of the current tenants – is exactly what Botany tenants were told in 2001.

Fears are that the same story will be repeated again.

Six years on, after being moved out of their homes to temporary decants, there is still no sign of any social rented housing in the Botany. And the Botany tenants have now been told that even if they ever are let back in, it will only be to 4 storey closes, rather than the back and front doors they were promised.

The Botany was betrayed.

Patricia Ferguson, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Maryhill, personally promised back and front door houses to Botany tenants. As a cabinet minister in the Scottish Executive she was in a position to deliver on that promise.

But chasing lucrative land deals around the canal proved more important to local politicians – private developers would pay more for a larger block of land, so decanted tenants were made to wait for other areas around the canal to be cleared and ready for sale. Then plans were hatched to remove rented housing altogether – private luxury flats are worth more if there are no social renting neighbours nearby.

Some Botany families have been left in badly overcrowded temporary decants for years, having taken smaller flats than they were entitled to because they were promised it would only be for a few months. Tenants have also been moved from one temporary decant to another, as they in turn have gone on to be scheduled for demolition over the long wait.

Below - architects plans given to tenants, but never acted on:

The Burgh Angel Poll

Do you think Buchanan Galleries should be allowed to build over the city’s bus station?

[Click on the developers plans of the Buchanan Galleries Extension to vote.]