The “Winter Wonderland” on George Green – an update.
CCC Chair, Tricia Fort and Committee member Arthur McJimpsey , along with the member of the public who submitted the petition regarding the creeping commercialisation of Glasgow Green attended the Wellbeing, Equalities, Communities, Culture and Engagement City Policy Committee on Thursday 22 January 2026.
The event wasn’t particularly well attended by Councillors but Christy Mearns and Holly Bruce were supportive, as were Robert Mooney, Mhairi Hunter and Angus Millar.
The Community Council rep, Irene Loudon (Blythswood & Broomielaw CC supported us too with a question about the 2016 agreement between Glasgow City Council and the charity Fields in Trust.
The committee was chaired by Calton Councillor, Bailie Linda Pike.
Mr McJimpsey spoke about his experience as a local resident – the ongoing constant noise, the complaints made and the concern that Environmental Health was closed over Christmas and New Year, leading to an FoI about the total number of complaints being submitted.
The member of the public spoke to the petition that was submitted on 04 December, with most of the signatures being received earlier in November, i.e. before the Fairground was up and running.
CCC Chair Tricia Fort then spoke to our findings since then – and many thanks to the members of the public who assisted with this
- Licensing: we were told that everything would be covered under a Public Entertainment Licence, a manager on site told us that licensing was the responsibility of Innis & Gunn (who ran the bar (we were told)). We then discovered that all the alcohol licences were “occasional licences”, each of 14 days duration – a series of 4 for the Ice Rink Bar and 4 for the main bar.
- Planning: the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development)(Scotland) 1992 (Class15) allows for the temporary use of land for up to 28 days in total per calendar year without requiring a full planning application. The Pipe Band Championships and TRNSMT together exceeded this limit and the Winter funfair on its own was over double that limit. Not one planning application was lodged.
Also, in 2016 the City Council made an agreement with “Fields in Trust” to protect 27 parks, including Glasgow Green, for use only as playing fields, open spaces and parks for leisure and sport activities.
- Building Warrants: these are required for a raised structure to provide seating or standing accommodation. There are 3 currently pending approval – even though the 3 structures they refer to, the Big Top, the Bar and the Marquee have been dismantled!
While attendees listened to the concerns about these last 3 items, they had not been included in the petition, so there was technically no need to respond. However, we made the points.
Thus we need to consider further action:
- Do we wait for NRS’s “debrief” on 04 February?
- Do we submit another petition about all the more legal aspects?
- Do we submit an FoI?
If you wish to watch proceedings then follow this link: https://glasgow.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1023315
