EXCLUSIVE: Council PR boss says Glasgow parks are a no go at night

Glaswegians are being told that the city's parks are not supposed to be used at night time.

It follows calls from safety campaigners to better light areas like Kelvingrove to keep people safer when using the city's parks in the evenings.

The debate over lighting in the park was reignited on Monday, after a Police diversion forced women to walk through a dimly lit area of Kelvingrove to get home.

Generator powered lights were also put in place in some areas for COP26, something campaigners have been calling for years to improve safety and there were hopes this would be made permanent.

But the local authority's PR boss told our senior reporter Natalie Crawford-Goodwin that the parks are only designed for day time use, and that is why there is no lighting in them.

'We don't encourage people to use our parks at night'

Generator powered lights have been put in place during COP26 and safety campaigners had hoped they could be made permanent but the local authority says that at night nature takes priority.

Colin Edgar Head of Communications at Glasgow City Council said: "In general, we don't light out parks at night and we don't encourage people to use our parks at night except for temporary lighting for events. This is because our parks operate differently at night time than they do during the day.

"We're working to minimise energy use across our estate, but we're also working to minimise the disruption to nocturnal birds, and bats, and pollinators, which are present within our park land.

'Parks are not places for people to be in the evening'

"So, we take the view that our parks are not places for people to be in the evening and that's really shown by the fact that when people were wrongly diverted there on Monday, it really wasn't the right place for them to be.

"The kind of extensive lighting that would be needed to make a park feel completely safe to someone in the hours of darkness is really not compatible with the nature that needs to live and thrive in our parks, that's why we market and design them as day time spaces and design other well-lit active travel routes for people to use in the evening."

Council has "as good as admitted parks aren't safe", say campaigners

Women who have been campaigning to have parks like Kelvingrove better lit for many months, say that by telling people to avoid them in the evenings the local authority has "as good as admitted" that the city's parks are not safe at night.

Singer Iona Fyfe lives in the West End and has campaigned for better safety lighting in the city. She said: "The idea that Glasgow City Council thinks parks shouldn't be used at night is completely ludicrous.

"In the summer we see tens of thousands of people enjoying the park, it boosts their mental health, it's a great place for people to get exercise, but then in the winter 'oh we shouldn't use the park when it's dark - that is completely ludicrous.

"The park isn't just their for recreational purposes. The park is a vital path to get people from A to B from Finnieston to Great Western Road."

"This view is seriously concerning."

Iona continued: "Other European countries have plazas and parks that are well lit and are places for all people to go and enjoy and are also places that serve the purpose of helping people get from A to B.

"They are functional spaces as well as recreational ones. But in Glasgow it seems the City Council just don't want people to use the parks at night. Why is that? Is it because they know the parks are dangerous places. Why are they not looking at ways to make it less dangerous?

"We should be able to access or natural green spaces at any time of the day especially in Glasgow because they are few and far between. We have some beautiful parks but if they are being closed off as soon as it is dark in the winter then we can't access them.

"For people who work a 9-5 that's the only opportunity they have to go out a walk, so there's actually a bit of a class issue here as well."

Students left 'in tears'

It comes just days after Police Scotland apologised after women were forced to walk through a dark park while part of Glasgow was cordoned off during an exclusive reception for world leaders and royals at Cop26.

Diversions were put in place around Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow on Monday evening as heads of state gathered for the Cop26 welcoming reception.

Many local residents took to social media to describe how they were forced to take long detours through the park to reach their homes due to road closures.

One person told how they had come across a young student in tears because she had to walk through the park alone.

She wrote: "We were sent away from one exit to the main gate, then told we had to do exactly that detour to get to Partick.

"On the way found a first year student in tears because she was in the same position and had had a man following her through the dark path; a male police officer."

Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie said: "Residents were diverted on their way home, including on foot through Kelvingrove Park, following real-time changes to operational plans on Monday night.

"While late changes and some level of disruption is inevitable when policing an event the size and scale of Cop26, we understand and apologise for the concern these changes caused and for the inconvenience to those diverted.

"We do, in particular, recognise and acknowledge the commentary from some women who had to walk through the park on their own last night, we want to keep everyone safe and we know that the onus is on us to recognise when we could provide some more support and visibility to reassure people in our communities.

"The diversion is no longer in place and there are no plans to reintroduce it. Should further diversions be required at short notice for operational purposes, we will look to establish additional patrols in the area to provide reassurance.

"We will work with Glasgow City Council to consider whether lighting in Kelvingrove Park can be improved."

Opposition parties are now calling on the local authority to change its position.

Conservative councillor Thomas Kerr said: “The Council’s response to calls to light up walkways in parks is frustrating and baffling.

"Many of our parks in Glasgow are key access routes between communities which are used most of the day – whether it is light or dark.

"The council seems to think that requests to light up these routes is frivolous rather than the necessity that it is.

"To simply advise people not to use parks when it is dark is irresponsible – particularly given that it gets dark in Glasgow relatively early during the winter. Women’s rights group are absolutely right to be campaigning for key walking routes to be lit up to make these routes safer for the whole community.

"Given recent tragic events involving the deaths of several women, I would have thought that Council officers would have understood the deep concern that underpins the requests to light up key walkways in Glasgow’s parks.

"The council should be listening to these groups and others and collaborating to ensure that safety is always put first in our parks and green spaces.”

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