
George Square Rally – Sat 2nd Feb – 12pm
The council are pressing ahead with plans to “redesign” George Square, at a cost of £15m. As ever, the redevelopment has little to do with what’s good for the people of Glasgow, and everything to do with the neo-liberal restructuring of our public space.
Protest against George Square redesign – as reported in the Herald
CAMPAIGNERS are organising a rally against the £15 million plans to redesign Glasgow’s George Square.
Almost 1000 people have pledged to attend the February 2 protest, following disquiet about the haste with which the plans have been made public and the decision taken.
There has also been growing unease over the consultation, described by the city council’s leader as extensive, but which involved interviews with no more than 42 members of the public.
It comes as Glasgow SNP MSP Sandra White lodged a petition at Holyrood criticising a number of aspects of the six plans, one of which is to be selected later this week, and will only be partly completed in time for the 2020 Games.
Ms White’s motion “condemns what it sees as the shortage of information and severe lack of public consultation” on the plans.
The campaigners insist they do not oppose change but are demonstrating “to halt the George Square reconstruction to allow more time for consultation and more designs which are for the people of Glasgow and not for the private sector to be put forward”.
A statement on the campaign’s Facebook page said: “The current designs are clearly an attempt to turn our most important civic space into a commercialised area.”
A council spokesman said the two biggest parties in the council, Labour and SNP, had campaigned in the election to redevelop the square and this was unanimously passed by the authority’s executive committee.
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More info at: https://www.facebook.com/events/137148319777367/