North Kelvin Meadow Campaign

We are delighted to learn today that Emily Cutts of the Children’s Wood and Douglas Peacock of the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign have been jointly short-listed in the Observer newspaper’s Ethical Awards “unsung local hero” category. This is a shortlist of around 5 out of 300 entries nationwide. It is a very welcome recognition of all the hard work they have put in. They have of course immediately said that it is a team effort by the whole community, and so it is, but Emily and Douglas have by far the strongest vision and perseverance of us all.

If you are new to this site, please take a look around. Visit our Facebook page for the latest details and gossip.

The nation’s “unsung local hero” will be chosen from the shortlist by popular vote from now to 24th May. To vote for Emily and Douglas, please follow this link below:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/observer-ethical-awards/unsung-local-hero-shortlist

The land is subject to a live planning application, which may come before the Planning Committee in the next few weeks. Glasgow City Council want to sell it to a private property developer for 90 luxury flats. If you think this green oasis should be saved, the simplest and fastest action is to sign our petition below:

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/the-scottish-government-stop-glasgow-city-council-building-on-north-kelvin-meadow-children-s-wood

Please share this petition with your friends. If you would like to do more then please follow the link in the above tab entitled ” Support us – Planning application – Phase 2″ Thank you for any support you can give us. This land is too precious to be built on and once its gone its gone forever.

Here’s a short film shot at the last Halloween event in Oct 2012 which helps to sum up whats there:

Please sign our new Petition below that asks the Scottish Government to “Call In” the planning application if Glasgow City Council’s Planning Committee give planning consent to build flats on the North Kelvin Meadow.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/the-scottish-government-stop-glasgow-city-council-building-on-north-kelvin-meadow-children-s-wood

Phase 1 of objecting to the planning application via the Glasgow City Council Planning process has ended on 5th Jan 2013. If you’d like to see the letters then follow the link to Glasgow City Council Planning website: https://publicaccess.glasgow.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=M3USXQEX0FS00

If needed type in the planning application number 12/00924/DC in the search field. Click Documents and then click View Associated Documents.

*** NEW *** Phase 2 now starts where we need to lobby. See our tab “Support Us” for more details. In brief these are 4 groups we need to lobby:

A. The Planning Committee. Your objection letters will now be summarized by the planning officer and presented to the 18 Planning Committee Council members at a meeting date that still to be decided. Probably beginning March 2013. These people won’t have been to the land, know what people use it for, seen our events, or know much about what’s been happening or the process the Council followed. It’s now about “quality over quantity” but we need to state our case directly to them and make them aware of what people think of the land. Photos help which you can get from our flicker group and pictures and videos on our and the children wood website. See the “Support Us” tab for more details on who they are and times their surgeries are on.

B. The Councilors on the Council Executive who made the decision to put the land up for sale.

C. Anyone else that can sway the decision. And that means Media, other bodies, other Councilors, people that the Council will listen to etc.

D. MSPs. We would expect this decision be “Called In “ to the Minister at the Scottish Government if it doesn’t go our way. But that won’t be done if people don’t ask and give reasons on why that should happen. This is really Phase 3 as they can’t Call In till the Council make the decision – and indeed we hope and expect the decision the Council Planning Committee make will go our way. But we do need to start lobby this now so as MSP are away of the issue. There are 2 main reason again see our website under tab “Support Us” for details.

Donations: Its does require money to run a campaign and provide events etc so any contribution you can give is much appreciated.
Bank Account Name: North Kelvin Meadow Campaign
Bank Account: 00174585
Sort Code: 82-64-26
Charity Number SC041346
Cheques can be sent to 1/1 84 Sanda Street, G20 8PS and made payable to North Kelvin Meadow Campaign.

What’s happening?

NEW – Forthcoming Demo. On Thursday 4th April 11.45am – 12.30pm we’ll be having another demo on George Square to maintain the pressure on Glasgow City Council not to sell off this land. Please do come along? Various speakers. This is the largest public greenspace in the West End / Maryhill thats not a formal public park or residents garden. Thats worth saving!

NEW – Sunday 24th March 2pm – 4pm. Peter Rabbit event on the Meadow. The Big Easter Egg Hunt, get your map on the day! Pet a real Rabbit, Make crafts. Listen to Peter Rabbit stories (Anna Lehr). Enjoy Home baking , face painting and LOTS more! Suggested donation £5.

Composting: What a difference a year makes! Well done to all who have really put in some effort getting our 5 bins going. Loads of worms which is a great sign of things going well. Can we considerate our efforts now on Number 1 please. Needs a good fork up if anyone wants to volunteer? POSTPONED TILL AFTER EASTER - Some work will take place soon to put in a new system. Basically moving compost to Number 1 from the other bins and installing a grass roof on Number 1 along with a petition down the middle. Some Orchard maintenace work too.

** Done **Sunday 24th of February 2013, 11-12pm. There will be a general spring cleaning of the land. Quintin will be leading a fix/repair/paint session for the fence surrounding the Meadow. A list of activities will be put up on the day, please come even just for a short while and help out. They call it the Green Gym you know! But we’ll have some hot tea and coffee in case it all gets too much! Wear old clothes.

** Done ** Saturday 26th Jan 2.30pm The Little House of La performs a unique music experience for families. Cost is £5 payable on the door. There will be fiddle, banjo, ukulele, harmonies, inventive percussion, actions, puppets and general silliness. For more details see http://www.thechildrenswood.com website.

** Done ** The George Square vigil. We’ve gathered hundreds of signatures for our petition as well as talked to council members and the public about the campaign. Every day a different campaign person represents us all by being in George Square (we were even there on Christmas day and New Year’s day) between 12 and 1pm. If you’d like to sign up to do a slot email: childrenswood@hotmail.com

Raised Beds: ** Update: all taken ** we do have a few spare raised beds given out on a small notional annual rental. If your keen to take over one then get in touch and we’ll send you details.

Please continue to keep the land looking at its best by picking up any litter, sweeping the entrances and generally looking after the place.

For those that haven’t seen our sister site please do have a look:

http://thechildrenswood.com/

We CAN save this land if we ALL write in!

So its time to send your emails / letters into the Council to object to the planning application that wants to destroy the North Kelvin Meadow and Children Wood by building 90 flats on it.

How? Its easy! Just send off a short email to the Council telling them why you think its a bad idea.

Anyone , anywhere can send in an objection. Be sure to quote the planning application ref number 12/00924/DC and your name (its up to you if you want to include your address).

We have created a page on the site that has all the details of who to write to plus the campaign standard letter if you’d rather copy and paste that into a new email before sending. This may also help you with some of the material planning issues we believe should be highlighted.

Planning Application – How to oppose

Deadline is 1 January 2013 for all or if you’re a neighbour its the 5 January 2013.

Here’s a short film shot at the last Halloween event in Oct 2012 which helps to sum up whats there.

YOU can make a difference so please email.

Latest News: We’re having a gathering / demo on George Square on Thursday 3rd Jan 2013 between 9.45am – 10.30am. Please come along and show support. If you have any home made placards do bring them along. Something showing on what will be missed if the land is destroyed. Thanks

Planning Application Received
After 4 years and many false starts we have finally received notice that a formal Planning Application has been lodged with the Council. The application from New City Vision is for the building of 90 dwellings on the Meadow. If this development is given planning permission then this will mean the end for our much-loved community resource.

The full details of the development are posted on Glasgow City Council’s website here: publicaccess.glasgow.gov.uk/online-applications/ Try searching for Clouston Street or use the reference number 12/00924/DC.  Tip – tick the Box then press Submit. Input the Ref number in Search. Select Document tab. Select View Associated Documents. At this point there are a huge number to choose from – for an overview try “Clouston Sanda Axon” which is the 35th one down (from memory!) . Note the Council website has been down 6/7/8th Dec so far , so you can’t see the plans. They don’t look to scale compared with the existing corner tenantment block but we’ll need to look in more detail at that.

At first sight it looks every bit as bad as we had expected. Here, for example, Clouston Street:

How you can help
Over the next few days we will be analysing the 65 separate documents of the planning application to establish ways in which we can defeat the application.

Soon we will be asking that all our supporters write a letter of objection to Glasgow City Council. To help, we will be sharing key information about how this formal objection should be written and the sort of issues that a Planning Committee will take into consideration and what information you need to include to ensure that your voice is heard.

Your letters will be crucial to overturning the threat to the Meadow. So please get your pens at the ready! If we all act together we stand a very good chance of defeating this.

The timing of the developer’s application is perhaps intentional – a period when everyone is focussed on Christmas. However if we can all spare just a few minutes during the next couple of weeks we stand a very good chance of defeating this application.

Stay in touch
As always, to keep up to date with the latest information on the planning application please continue to visit this Web site, our Facebook or Twitter feeds or sign up to our supporters’ mailing list by emailing northkelvinmeadow@gmail.com

UPDATE – 9 December 2012
We have now published the images and copies of the developers’ plans on our web site here.

We ask you email:    developmentplan@glasgow.gov.uk

and simply say:

• you agree that Proposal reference number Prop0066 be rezoned as Greenspace instead of the existing Residential status.
• Grounds are that its being used by the local community as a green recreational space, an outdoor play area for kids, raised bed allotments and a woodland, wildlife and meadow space.
• With over 480 trees on the land it is clearly part of the green network of our city and adds to its biodiversity.
• The whole site as from August 2011 is within Glasgow West Conservation Area. 
• The site has never had residential buildings on it, documentary evidence of that is available on maps from the past, such as this one below showing how the land was undeveloped in 1894 while the streets surrounding it had started to be developed with tenements (the street shown as Montgomery Street was renamed Clouston Street – scroll down about 20 pictures): http://www.scotcities.com/westend/north_kelvinside.htm

Proposals Site Assessment 

Ref: Prop0066 

Address: Clouston St 

Proposer: North Kelvin Meadow 

Proposal: Greenspace 

Exist DPP: DEV2 Residential 

Be sure to tell them your name. And remember the deadline is 9^th Dec 2012.

Thanks

—————————————————————————————

Further Information from the Council is on the link below:

http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/NR/exeres/55E09B0E-DC2E-4354-8E1B-2F8A4986D822,frameless.htm?NRMODE=Published

(within the Main Issue Report we are on page 17)

Come along to the North Kelvin Big Lunch next Sunday 19th August 1pm to 4pm on North Kelvin Meadow

It’s a community picnic, a chance for you to meet your neighbours and have lunch together, and it’s jointly organised by North Kelvin Meadow and North Kelvin Community Council.

You’ll need to bring food and drink to share, and something to sit on. If it’s raining, we’ll be in the Scout Hall on Kelbourne Street.

The plan is to lay all the food out and then everybody can help themselves to what they fancy. We’ll eat at 1.30pm.

There will be music from jazz quintet Perdido, facepainting, and we will have a ‘Shop Local’ raffle, with all prizes donated by local businesses. There’ll also be information from local organisations, and a chance to have your say about what you want to happen in the North Kelvin area.

We really hope you can come (and that the weather’s good!), see you all then.

There are many groups using the Meadow for events during the summer. Some are listed on our events page.

Particularly popular are the regular events for children organised by the Children’s Wood team. For full details about these activities please visit their web site at www.thechildrenswood.com.

It has been a while since we last updated everyone. Here’s the latest:

Developer’s Planning Application

As you will know, on 8 May, New City Vision submitted an Application for Planning permission to build on the Meadow.

We have learnt that the planning application from the developers, New City Vision, is incomplete and has therefore not been validated by the Council’s planning department. This is most likely due to missing or incomplete key documents or other technicalities. The result is that the plans are not available to the public and therefore the formal 28 day period for objections has not yet started.

We understand that the application is for 90 properties in total – 18 townhouses, 26 mews houses and 46 flats. Around a quarter of the development is described as “open space”.

In recent weeks we know that the developer has been working on resolving these issues with the application and will most likely wish to resubmit the application soon. As soon as that happens and the details are available we will let you know immediately.

How you can help
Once the application is public we will be asking that all our supporters write a letter of objection to Glasgow City Council. To help, we will be sharing key information about how this formal objection should be written and the sort of issues that a Planning Committee will take into consideration.

Your letters will be crucial to overturning the threat to the Meadow so please get your pens at the ready!

Gruffalo and Gruffalo’s child events

Over recent weeks strange animals have roamed the Meadow!

North Kelvin Meadow has been host to a series of special readings of the Gruffalo series of books.

Actor, Tam Dean Burn brought the books to life alongside some special guests, some quite scary!

These events were incredibly popular and demonstrate yet another way that the community regularly uses the Meadow.

Evening Times Streets Ahead Awards

You may have read that North Kelvin Meadow was one of 3 finalists in the Evening Times’ Streets Ahead awards this year in the Environmental Initiative category.

Our congratulations to the fine people at Woodlands Community Garden who went on to win the award. Thanks to the Evening Times and all other nominees who made the recent award ceremony such a great event and to everyone who has volunteered their time over the years to keep North Kelvin Meadow as a community space.

Raised beds

The raised beds at North Kelvin Meadow have all been bought and installed by individuals. However, from time-to-time, beds become free as people move away from the area.

If you would like to add your name to our waiting list please fill in your details on the web form and we will contact you on a first come first served basis should a raised bed become free.

Raised bed waiting list

Private Eye story

North Kelvin Meadow campaign was featured in a special article in a recent edition of Private Eye. For anyone new to the campaign this provides a very useful summary. Well worth a read. Our thanks to Private Eye for highlighting our campaign.

Private Eye article on North Kelvin Meadow

Enough’s Enough Event, Sunday 15th July, North Kelvin Meadow and Scout Hut, Kelbourne Street

“Concerned about the future well-being of your children and want to do something about it? Then this event is for you.”

Find out more about the latest on the campaign at the North Kelvin Meadow stall at this event discussing children and materialism.

For more information on the event visit their website at: enoughsenoughditchthestuff.wordpress.com

Children’s Wood Playgroup

The Children’s Wood playgroup meets on Wednesday Mornings 10:00 – 12:00pm. They are now members of SPPA (The Scottish Pre School Play Association). Each session costs £1 and is open to all parents and children. The playgroup welcome older children during the summer and meet up even if the weather is wet.

For more information visit thechildrenswood.com

Keeping in Touch

As always, to keep up to date with the latest information on the planning application and events and activities on the Meadow please continue to visit this Web site, our Facebook or Twitter feeds or sign up to our supporters’ mailing list by emailing northkelvinmeadow@gmail.com