Housing and safety concerns for Glasgow ahead of May elections - Hannah Brown

Starting in Glasgow, The Scotsman, online and in print, will be examining key local issues that will be at the forefront of the local elections.

Sorting out payments for expensive council tax on top of making your way through unbearably high energy bills as well as managing overflowing bins is part of my day-to-day now as a Glaswegian.

However, experiences with these issues in Glasgow do not tell the full story.

Candidates who promise to end housing issues and safety concerns many in the city are experiencing could prove to be popular amongst Glaswegian voters.

Housing and safety concerns ahead of the the Glasgow City Council elections in May (Photo: Shutterstock)

For many, promises made and kept on these issues in this year’s council election could be life-altering.

Although not in the dizzy heights of Edinburgh prices, people searching for accommodation in Glasgow are still struggling.

As someone who has only recently found a flat to move into, the market in Glasgow has been pretty dire.

My flatmate and I searched through a desert of over-priced properties which tended to be in the council tax band D area and beyond until we finally ‘got lucky’.

"I actually can’t believe we got this. I feel like such an impostor”, my flatmate said to me.

Another issue raised by Pollok-born activist Darren McGarvey is some locals in the South Side and East End are beginning to feel ‘displaced’ by young middle-class people coming into these areas, making it harder for locals to afford to live in their own areas.

A huge part of being Glaswegian is a sense of belonging yet, in the current climate, our supposed working-class industrial city is feeling a lot more exclusionary.

Candidates proposing measures such as more affordable housing alongside rent and council tax control could stand a strong chance in winning the people’s votes.

Many will also want to see women’s safety prioritised and properly addressed.

Glasgow and its women’s organisations have a proud history in their fight for safer and better spaces for women.

A feminist town planning initiative was proposed by a Young Women Lead cohort in Glasgow and Wise Women Glasgow launched a survey where hundreds of women gave their views on what makes them feel unsafe in the city.

Glaswegians will not want broken promises but solid plans that will improve and, at times, save the lives of many in the city.

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