A controversial plan by Glasgow City Council to use tens of millions of pounds of public money to upgrade and expand a Glasgow shopping centre has been temporarily shelved after the SNP Scottish Gvernment failed to approve the scheme prior to the Holyrood elections. The plan, described by Glasgow MSP Patrick Harvie as "high-risk" and "irresponsible", involves the council borrowing £56m to give to the largest commercial property company in the UK.
The proposed Buchanan Quarter TIF initiative would see the council pay the borrowed money back over 25 years, using additional business rates which senior councillors say would be generated by the development.
The scheme has been poorly received by the Glasgow public, many of whom point out that the council is currently imposing savage cuts in vital public services which many experts believe will hit the city's weakest and most vulnerable citizens the hardest. In February this year, the council announced £58 million of cuts, including the loss of 2600 jobs.
In a dramatic twist the story, management at the Buchanan Galleries' biggest rival in the city, the St Enoch Centre, have warned that they intend to take legal action against the council if the subsidy for the Galleries and its multi-billion-pound parent company goes ahead.
Retail experts fear that an expansion of the Buchanan Galleries could suck the life out of the rest of the city centre where currently a fifth of the city's retail floorspace is vacant. However, councillors dispute this, claiming that an expanded Galleries will have no impact on the overall market.
Commenting on the plan's failure to win government approval, a spokesman for Glasgow City Council said:
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"We are very disappointed that the Scottish Government did not make a decision on the Glasgow TIF before the election campaign. We hope the new administration will make an early announcement a priority."
Harry Reid, owner of a baby store on Trongate for 25 years, said that current trading conditions in the city have never been so hard. He added:
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"We can't understand why the council would put money in to doing up the top of Buchanan Street, he said. That will just suck business away from the Trongate, the Merchant City, Argyle Street and, yes, parts of Sauchiehall Street too."
A concerned Evening Times reader said:
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"Surely the millionaire owners of Buchanan Galleries can well afford to fund the centre's expansion without our money. At a time when the city needs every penny, it seems wasteful in the extreme to use public cash to help boost profits at a private shopping centre. After all, I can t see the bosses of the Buchanan Galleries cutting dividends to shareholders in order to pay for schools or hospitals in Glasgow."
GG.