The Chris Mitchell Column: GLASGOW’S FIGHTBACK BEGINS

We live here. We care. So why are we being left out of decisions about our own city? It’s time for regeneration that puts people first — and a movement that turns anger into hope.

EXCLUSIVE by Chris Mitchell, GMB Convenor, Glasgow

Across Glasgow, communities are under siege.

Our schools are rotting. Our community centres are closed. And the green spaces our children play in are being sold off behind closed doors.

It’s not regeneration — it’s exploitation.

Well, those days are over.

Because something has changed. People are fighting back and demanding answers.

All across the city, people are starting to wake up. In community after community, neighbours are coming together, standing up, and saying: enough is enough.

Here’s what’s happening. Glasgow City Council has agreed to flog our last green space in Carmyle — five plots of land at River Road and Kenmuir Road — to a private developer. The developer wants to build up to 475 private houses on 30 acres of land, mostly council-owned.

This is land where kids play, families walk, and wildlife thrives — bats, deer, birds, and even a protected mineral pond.

All for £1.45 million — with a £300,000 discount thrown in for “groundworks.”

Not a single social home. Not a single affordable unit. Just concrete, traffic, and disruption — for nine years.

Zero social housing. Zero respect.

Since 2019, this project has been moving forward. The council and developers might have thought we wouldn’t notice — but now they’re facing the fight of their lives.

As part of the £30 million development, there are plans to reopen an old viaduct bridge — a structure that’s been closed off for many years. The goal is to create new walkways connecting Cambuslang and Carmyle.

But to do that, they’ll need to bring in heavy machinery and begin major construction through the area. The new housing is set to be built right behind that bridge.

And while the diggers move in, the council is trying to spin it as a win — promising us a classroom here, a reopened community centre there — things we’ve already been campaigning for.

I’ve been told by reliable sources inside the council that a deal has already been struck — and that in exchange for handing over this land, the council is finally promising to deliver the basic services residents have been asking for for years.

When I asked what that meant, they told me Carmyle will “get a lot out of this”: two extensions to the local school, a reopened community centre, and improved amenities.

We’re being told to accept nine years of disruption, construction, and chaos just to get what we should have had all along.

Why now? Because a developer’s cheque is on the table.

We’re not stupid.

This isn’t about improving Carmyle. It’s about selling it off.

It’s a scandal.

And people are raging.

Two weeks ago, 200 to 300 residents were out protesting — and we’re planning another family day protest in the very park they want to destroy.

Huge thanks to Sharon Caddie, who’s led the Stand Up For Carmyle group with tireless energy.

Local campaigners, youth groups, and wildlife charities are involved. Leaflets and letters are going out. The support is overwhelming. This is growing — fast.

The proposal was partly signed off eight weeks ago. A detailed application is coming — and it must be rejected.

I was told they’d be willing to negotiate — if I could get the committee to back down.

I said no.

We’re not against investment. We want better schools. We want safe swing parks and sports pitches for our kids. We want the community centre reopened.

But we’re not being blackmailed into giving up our only green space to get it.

It shouldn't take a developer’s cheque to fix what the council should have fixed years ago.

And it shouldn't take protests to be heard — but here we are.

Now a developer shows up with a wad of cash, and suddenly the council wants to listen?

It’s not regeneration — it’s ransom.

People ask me why I’m involved in this.

I’m involved because I live here. My wife, my children, my family, my neighbours — we all live in this community. And we’re not going to stand by while they try to wreck it in the name of profit.

There’s already chaos getting in and out of Carmyle. Only two roads serve the area, and traffic is already a nightmare. Add a massive building site for nearly a decade?

It’ll turn Carmyle into a ghost town. Families will leave. The community will die. And all for a short-term payday.

This isn’t just a Carmyle issue — it’s a Glasgow issue. Across the city, working-class communities are being treated like collateral damage in the name of “progress.”

But now we’re saying: no more.

We want a proper say in what happens in our communities. We want investment that benefits us — not just wealthy developers.

We want safe green spaces, modern schools, thriving community centres, and secure streets — because we deserve them.

To the council: we’re not going away.

You cannot bulldoze our community without speaking to the people who actually live here.

There is still time to fix this.

So here’s our message, loud and clear: We are willing to sit down with the Council Leader and the Chief Executive — now — to discuss a way forward.

Not behind closed doors. Not with deals already done.

But face-to-face, openly, with the community's voice at the centre.

They can listen to the voices of people on the ground. Not just me — but the hundreds in Carmyle who’ve stood up, spoken out, and said: You will not do this without us.

This isn’t over. Not by a long shot.

We should be involved in rebuilding Glasgow — in every decision that affects our community, because we’re the ones who live with the consequences.

The regeneration of Glasgow must be for the people who live in Glasgow.

And I can see the community spirit coming back again.

The mood is changing. People are standing up. Communities across Glasgow are waking up.

And if this happened in every corner of the city?

There would be an uprising — not of anger, but of hope.

And Glasgow would be better for it.

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