This is the wording of the Public Petition, submitted by Calton Community Council to Glasgow City Council on 04 December:
“Glasgow Green is a cherished publicly owned space managed by the City Council. This petition concerns use of the Green for commercial events, focussing first on the 2025 Christmas Hub on the Green, but then on the wider context of increased frequency of events across the year.
The Christmas Hub. No local consultation took place before this event was announced in the press. We received no clear information about the type of event, which seems to be primarily a fairground. Moving it from George Square in the city centre places it in an otherwise quiet residential area.
We find the proposed duration (November into January) unreasonable, as well as 10 till 10 daily opening hours. We ask the Council to reconsider and limit these arrangements to mitigate the noise and other disruption to the area.
The Green is or should be primarily a recreational space for the people of Glasgow. However, events held in 2025 have already limited public access and disrupted movement in the area for extended periods of time while events are set up and dismantled. We call on the Council to share future plans for all proposed events through timely advance consultation with residents and their representatives, and to take account of their views. At present we feel disregarded and fail to see any balance between the adverse effects of events and any benefits to the local community.”
The petition was supported by 86 members of the public and has now been approved to go forward to Council Committee, at which we will be represented, at a date to be disclosed.
However, we were unable to publish the petition on the City Council website, to gain more support, and we are unable to have the approved petition published because, as we were told, by the Petitions Officer on 19 December:
“Unfortunately the previous system provider for our petitions page went into liquidation suddenly and unexpectedly and there is no way of retrieving the information as the company/software no longer exists.”
This is, to put it mildly, a setback for democracy and openness in Glasgow.