Glasgow's vacant shops could be used by local artists

Glasgow’s SNP Group is today calling on the City Council and its arms length company City Property to allow for the use of vacant shops and business units as facilities for community groups and local artists.

Councillor Craig Mackay – the SNP Group’s spokesman for Regeneration and the Economy – has been supporting the Merchant City Initiative on a proposal to bring vacant units into use, bringing life to areas with empty properties, until they can be taken over by new or expanding businesses.

Councillor Mackay said: “With the ongoing downturn in the economy, and so many vacant units lying unused across the city, it seems very short-sighted not to find a use for them in the short-term, where there are clearly people and organisations willing to make good use of them.  Other cities in Scotland, such as Edinburgh and Aberdeen – as well as Cambridge and Liverpool in England, for example – have developed schemes to allow up and coming local artists to display and work in vacant shops.  They have also supported community organisations in taking on temporary and short-term lets.

“By doing this, these cities have maintained a level of activity in areas affected by the recession, which will in turn assist with recovery and make the shop units more attractive to potential commercial occupants.  The proposals developed by the Merchant City Initiative would provide similar benefits to Glasgow, be cost neutral at worst and meet Council’s own policy. It seems that we need to push City Property, the Council’s arms-length property company, and the Council itself to implement the Council’s own wishes and follow the good practice of other cities.

“It’s a shame that the council’s own company appears to be reluctant to move forward with this pilot scheme, but there is still time to bring this worthwhile policy to fruition."

Notes:

The proposal by the Merchant City Initiative, called “Taking Creative License”, is a pilot scheme to bring vacant floorspace in the city back into productive use. If successful it could be rolled out throughout all City Property managed commercial properties. There are two primary objectives:

• Make constructive use of otherwise empty commercial floorspace
• Respond to the needs of cultural and creative industries seeking to accommodate active and productive uses and test market opportunities

The Council’s policy in this area can be found here (motion b at Agenda Item 9): 

The Edinburgh example was printed in the Herald on the 15th of September 2010.  The article can be found online here.

The Aberdeen example can be found here.

The Liverpool example can be seen at this site.

An example of vacant commercial properties being used in Cambridge can be found here.