CAMPAIGNERS locked in a bitter housing dispute with Glasgow City Council have called for renewed negotiations to prevent an expensive legal battle.
Jordanhill Community Council and its Jordanhill Campus sub committee are going head to head with the local authority and house builders Cala Homes over the proposals to sell and redevelop the former Strathclyde University site.
More than 200 people attended a public meeting at Jordanhill Parish Church yesterday afternoon.
A judicial review will go before the Court of Session in November, but the community group say the council have continued to negotiated with Cala over the 412-home development.
They are calling fellow members of the community to making representations direct to Susan Aitken, the leader of Glasgow City Council.
Tom Hamilton, of the sub committee, told the audience: “The community and the community council are not against the redevelopment of Jordanhill Campus.
But he added: “No one is going to defend this community other than you, the community – that has become blatantly obvious. We might not win; but at least we will have tried.”
The community council say they called for a judicial review in response to what they feel was a clear “changing of the goalposts” from officials.
More recently, Cala submitted more detailed plans to the council, which has since provoked 900 objections from members of the public.
Euan Miller, fellow sub committee member, said the current plans bear “little resemblance” to those which councillors agreed to previously.
He said: “We believe the process has been flawed.”
He added: “This is a David and Goliath battle. But like David and Goliath, we all know how that ended up, and we too can be successful.
“We have to stress, we are not against this redevelopment, but it has to be a redevelopment along the lines of which the community was promised.”
The community council’s secretary John Grierson called on Councillor Ade Aibinu – the only elected official who accepted an invitation to the public meeting – to give his views.
He urged the audience to continue putting pressure on the leader of the city council and pledged to speak out on their behalf in the chamber.
A council spokesman said last week: “We have not done anything wrong procedurally around this issue and we have been in dialogue with the community about the proposals for this site, although clearly we cannot have such dialogue when it comes to court action.
“All views will be taken into account when any decision is made on any planning application around this matter. There has been no discharging in terms of matters specified in conditions at this point - this would be a matter for a committee to decide.”
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