Protest march calls for Glasgow community venues to reopen

Hundreds of campaigners have called for Glasgow’s closed community venues to be re-opened as they marched to the People’s Palace in protest.

They walked from Cathedral Square to Glasgow Green to show their support for the city’s shuttered libraries, museums and sports facilities.

Speakers, including union reps and local campaigners, addressed the crowd, highlighting the value of the venues to the city.

Jim Monaghan, from march organisers Glasgow Against Closures, said: “Libraries, museums, sports fields, swimming pools, they are not an extra, they are not a luxury.

“We can’t afford not to have these things. They are an essential part of a council’s service and an essential part of communities thriving.

“If they close these services, everything else that the council does gets more difficult.

“Without libraries, social work becomes more difficult, without swimming pools and sports centres, health becomes more difficult. Without museums and galleries, education becomes more difficult.”

Doors were shut at libraries, museums and sports facilities when the Covid-19 pandemic hit last year and Glasgow Life, the arms-length body running culture and leisure services, lost around £38m of income.

A £100m guarantee from Glasgow City Council allowed Glasgow Life, the arms-length body running culture and leisure services, to reopen 90 venues, but many are still closed.

Reopening facilities is “entirely dependent on more funding becoming available”, a Glasgow Life spokesman said.

About 500 jobs could go due to venue closures, with Glasgow Life saying there will be no compulsory redundancies.

Dr Elspeth King, former curator at the People’s Palace, said Glasgow Life is “literally sucking the life out of the museums and libraries, out of the sports facilities”.

Sister Isabel Smyth, from the closed St Mungo Museum, said: “As far as I know, conversations are going on to change the purpose and nature of that museum. That would be a disaster.

“It’s almost as though the people who are doing this work in Glasgow Life know nothing of the museum, know nothing of its history, know nothing of the work it has done.”

Politicians were also present at the demonstration as some Labour, Conservative and Green councillors marched alongside the protesters.

Glasgow Labour group leader Malcolm Cunning and Glasgow Tories leader Thomas Kerr were present while Labour’s Paul Sweeney MSP also took part.

A spokesman for Glasgow Life said: “The £100million funding guarantee we received from Glasgow City Council in March has been fully allocated, reopening more than 90 venues across the city in the wake of the global pandemic.

“In May, Glasgow City Council passed a motion resolving that all Glasgow Life venues should reopen as soon as funding and Scottish Government guidance allows but Glasgow Life’s ability to open more venues is entirely dependent on more funding becoming available.

“Unions have been kept up to date with plans for reopening over the last year and the ongoing impact the pandemic would have on Glasgow Life and assessments of the possible impact were published and widely reported in March this year.

“We recognise the strength of feeling there is about venues without reopening dates and continue to make the case for further income which would allow us to open more.”

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