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I spent an hour or so over in Pollok Park this afternoon attending the Save Pollok Park organised vigil. It was a spectacular success, with organisers counting 1,100 people in attendance. Particularly impressive given it was organised in very little time. Quite clearly an example of how much local opinion is against the proposal. A minutes silence was held to draw attention to the peace and quiet that makes the glade so special. Save for the barking of a few dogs, it was a very nice moment.

As I arrived, I saw that Nicola Sturgeon was in attendance, doing interviews and speaking to the press. I was quitevery surprised that she said hello, and clearly remembered me from our encounters at the Scottish parliamentary elections last year, so I had a brief chat to her, and thanked her for the great work she is doing in giving the campaign Scotland-wide attention. Whilst she wouldn’t be drawn on whether the proposal would be “recalled” to the Scottish Parliament, she certainly suggested it was ‘theoretically possible‘.

Yesterday there was the news in Saturday’s Herald that Go Ape are investigating an alternative site, south of the Burrell. Whilst it’d be a better spot, I’m now quite convinced the park isn’t suitable for anything like this. It’s now much more about a lack of consultation, a disengagement between the people of Glasgow and the council, and ensuring that the few remaining quiet retreats aren’t developed. But perhaps most importantly of all - spending the councilour money on ways to genuinely encourage children to take up activities that won’t cost an absolute fortune. The Go Ape proposal is far more commercial in nature than is appropriate for the park, aimed at the businesses of Glasgow, not the majority of people.

The Vigil should hopefully keep the campaign in the public eye, and make it very clear to the council that they ignore the views of the public at their peril. It’s not that long until the next election, and the Save Pollok park campaign could very easily become an important factor when people are next choosing how to vote.

Update

• The BBC has coverage of the event. They put the numbers at 400, which is a bit of an under-estimate.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 17th, 2008 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Glasgow, Scotland, Scottish Politics, Southside. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.