CAMPAIGNERS have called for the Scottish Government to get round the table to bring jobs back to the Springburn rail works almost two years after their closure. Unite the Union activists and Scottish Labour candidate for Maryhill and Springburn, Keiran O’Neill at this year’s Scottish Parliament election have urged transport secretary Michael Matheson to take action over the vacant site. In total, 200 workers at the St Rollox yard lost their jobs after the decision was made to close the depot, locally known as the Caley despite a campaign by Unite, along with then Labour MP for Glasgow North East, Paul Sweeney to keep the works open.
PARTICK Thistle Football Club have pledged their support in calling on the council to rename Maryhill Library after Maria Fyfe, who was a passionate supporter of the team. The former MP for Maryhill, who represented the area from 1987-2001, passed away in December, last year, aged 82. Last week, Keiran O’Neill, Labour and Co-op Candidate for Maryhill and Springburn, sent a letter to Glasgow City Council calling for the library, which housed her constituency office, to be named after Maria. And now a cross-party group of politicians have joined his calls, along with Gerry Britton, chief executive of Patrick Thistle, who will be writing to the council supporting the campaign.
GLASGOW City Council is under growing pressure following increasing calls for a vacant development site to be used for social housing. At a virtual town hall meeting to discuss the sale of vacant land on Collina Street in Maryhill on Tuesday evening, representatives from the Scottish Greens and Scottish Labour urged the council to reconsider its original plans to sell to private developers. Living Rent along with Wyndford Tenants Union, have been leading the fight against the controversial plans to sell the land to private developers for a mixture of social rent and owner occupier housing. Campaigner Norman Cunningham said, “We heard from the council last night who told us that this site is going to be very difficult to develop [for profit]. Well in that case, let’s give the community a chance. There are any number of existing community-based successful social housing schemes.