“Not an acceptable situation”, council will not fund lighting in Glasgow parks
Kelvingrove: One of three parks in the proposal
A campaign to add more lighting in popular Glasgow parks has hit a wall as the council budget has shown no money will be made available for this cause.
It was announced last year that Kelvingrove, Cranhill, and Queen’s Park would have lighting installed by 2025, but that deadline now looks under threat.
The #LightTheWay campaign was created by Clyde 1 in an effort to make common routes through parks safer at night.
Backing for this movement has been shown from councillors and MSPs across parties, as well as organisations such as Visibility Scotland and The Young Women’s Movement Scotland.
The council unanimously voted in favour of this improvement in the hope of making vulnerable people feel safe in these public spaces.
However, with no money coming from the council budget, the work would have to rely on external funding meaning plans could be delayed or worse.
Labour Councillors Jill Brown and Eva Murray, who put the proposal forward, called it “frustrating” that things have not moved forward after 18 months, and that the council are “putting it on the public to crowdfund”.
Councillor Murray offered further comment to the Standard: “18 months ago Councillor Jill Brown and I worked hard to gain cross-party support for our motion on lighting in our city’s parks. We worked to address concerns around environmental impact and cited examples of how creating safer routes through parks with better lighting has worked successfully in other cities across the globe.
“We all agreed then that this was an issue that merited action and that it should be acted on with some urgency. We want our parks to be safe places for all those who require to use them. We know in the winter evenings when it does get darker earlier that many of our parks become no go areas for a number of our citizens. That’s not good enough. We are proudly known as the “Dear Green Place” but at the moment there is restricted hours on it.
“The Light The Way campaign was initiated after the high profile incident during COP26 when people were forced to walk through a pitch dark Kelvingrove Park as the roads were cordoned off for dignitary’s visiting the Art Gallery. I saw it first hand as one of the people who experienced it. That event brought it to our attention and we then realised that actually this is an issue impacting people across the city daily and as stories were shared the campaign gained support.
“It’s hugely disappointing that even though all Councillors agreed in 2021 that this is an issue which must be addressed and steps taken as a matter of urgency, that we still see no funding allocated to make it a reality. We see the plans that could be put in place but ultimately they won’t happen unless funding is assigned to the project.
“Councillor Brown and I will continue pushing for progress to be made on this and exploring options for how it can be funded. We understand that this is an ongoing safety concern for many Glaswegians and we want to find a solution as soon as possible. Cities around the globe have shown us how it can be – Glasgow should be following their lead.”
Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, has backed the campaign all the way and has also spoken to the Glasgow Standard.
She said: “It’s all very well having warm words, but not having any money to back it up is not going to light the parks.
“Warm words will not light parks and they won’t make people any safer at nights.
“This is a real concern for people in the city who are worried about the safety in parks, and I know that I and my colleagues will work hard by reaching out to communities across Glasgow, in particular women’s organisations and others who use our parks regularly who are at most risk and ask them to come together to say ‘what can we do about this?’
“It’s not an acceptable situation that this continues to go on and we face potentially another winter with no lights in our parks and people being no safer.
“I think it’s a really disappointingly hands-off approach. I think we need much more support from the council, and we should expect more support from the council.
“It’s been unanimously agreed that we need lights in parks, that was the motion that was put forward and everybody cross-party agreed that, and so I think the council really should be stepping up to the plate.”
Work is currently due to begin in two years, and further reports will be made in due course.
If you wish to back this campaign, you can sign the petition here.
