Angry residents are campaigning to stop Southside Housing Association building on two small parks in Pollokshields.

The Association plans a health centre and six flats, on Turtle Park, on the corner of Leslie Street and Forth Street.

On the site of the Stepping Stones on the corner of Leslie Street and Keir Street they  intend to have a Barnardos Apna for disabled children and six 2 and 3 bedroom flats. The total cost will be £1.5million.

Local residents have set up a new community association – the Leslie Street Greenspaces Group  – to oppose these changes and have leafletted hundreds of homes.

Ajaz Ahmad, a resident and member of the group said, ‘These parks are well used by all sections of the community and green spaces are in limited supply. The trees have Tree Preservation Orders on them because they are over 100 years old.’

Another resident Anna Matthews, (32), who is a youth worker told the LOCAL NEWS, ‘I’m against these plans because of the parking and the increase in traffic. If this goes ahead it will make things ten times worse’

Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister and Govan MSP said, ‘I support this campaign. It is very important to have new houses but not at the expense of valuable green spaces. There is already too little green space in this part of Pollokshields, I have submitted a letter of objection to the planning department. There are alternative sites to build houses on and I think these should be considered.’
Pollokshields Community Council’s Chairperson, Fatima Uygun, said, ‘There are plenty of other sites in Pollokshields which the Association could use.’

Over 100 letters of objections have been submitted already. Pollokshields Councillors Khalil Malik and Irfan Rabbani are both opposed to the plan.

The third Pollokshields Councillor, David Meikle, sits on the Glasgow City Council’s Planning Application Committee and therefore has to remain objective and impartial.

Patrick McGrath, Director of Southside Housing Association told the LOCAL NEWS, ‘The Save Our Parks campaign is misleading as the two formal parks in Leslie Street will be unaffected by our proposal and indeed may benefit from it. Issues such as parking and trees will be looked at by the Planning Authority and it may reject our proposal or ask us to amend it depending on how it views these matters.

‘Land for social purposes is very limited. Barnardos has been in temporary accommodation for 12 years. Most sites are sold for private development at prices we cannot afford.’

The validation of the application was expected to be confirmed by Glasgow City Council as this paper went to press.