North Kelvin: Green MSP to help install bat boxes and defy GCC

Patrick Harvie MSP will tomorrow join local residents in Maryhill to put up ten bat boxes at the North Kelvin Meadow, a community-run green space on the site of the former Clouston Street Playing Fields. In August, Glasgow City Council went to court to try and evict the local community from the North Kelvin Meadow.

At that hearing the City Council secured an interdict to prevent two members of the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign, Douglas Peacock and Karen Chung, from continuing their work. The installation of bat boxes by Mr Peacock and Ms Chung was specifically prohibited. Local residents have responded by setting up Bat Boxes for the North Kelvin Meadow, and Harvie will tomorrow join the group at the Meadow to help install ten bat boxes, which will support local biodiversity and environmental education.

The bat boxes were paid for from a Scottish National Heritage Biodiversity award given to Bat Boxes for the North Kelvin Meadow, which was one of 75 projects in Scotland that received a SNH Biodiversity award in 2009.

Despite backing a motion from Green Councillor Nina Baker in 2008 to support the conversion of derelict land into community green space, Glasgow City Council is still planning to evict the Campaign to facilitate a planned sale of the land to a property developer.

Before the campaign began, the Meadow had fallen into considerable disrepair, with vandalism, fly tipping and other crime, but it is now fast becoming a wildlife haven and a thriving community green space. A petition to support the campaign and oppose eviction has received more than 750 signatures, and has been supported by Lib Dem and SNP MSPs as well as the Scottish Greens.

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

"If Glasgow City Council had any sense they'd be dishing out awards, not eviction notices, to a group who have transformed a dilapidated and unsafe area, boosted wildlife, and begun a community food initiative. Even Kafka would have struggled to imagine a local council going to court to ban an arbitrary list of local residents from improving their community park. The action taken by Glasgow City Council against the campaign is ridiculous and disproportionate.

"This campaign and this community have exactly the spirit we need to see in Glasgow, and their work here has been practical, sustainable, popular, and has even helped to reduce crime. As the Sheriff said in court, they have done nothing but good. A haven for crime has become a beacon for environmental progress and a source of pride.

"Tomorrow's event will serve as another reminder of all the good work that has been done here. It also represents a statement of intent to Labour members on Glasgow City Council who seem to have forgotten that they're there to serve the interests of local communities, not property developers. The community and its supporters will, by all legal means, resist the vandalism the Council plans to impose on the community. It's about time the Council swallowed their pride, admitted they've put short-term profit ahead of community interest, and gave the Meadow the full support that it deserves."

Notes

1. The Meadow is located between Clouston Street and Kelbourne Street. For a Googlemap of the site, see: http://tr.im/CDkI

2. For information about the campaign, see: http://northkelvinmeadow.com/

3. The petition is here: http://tr.im/CDh5