RESIDENTS and business owners have vowed to breach the safety cordon around the Glasgow School of Art to retrieve belongings but have been warned they are risking their lives and arrest.

Residents of Garnethill, who have been shut out of their homes since the fire in the Mackintosh building last month, are frustrated they cannot gain access to retrieve essential items and check on their property.

Businesses want access to premises to check stock and their premises’ condition. They have stated they intend to enter their properties through the cordon tomorrow lunchtime, in a peaceful manner and in full recognition of the risks posed.

However, the council has told them parts of the building may collapse and anyone in the vicinity is at risk of being killed.

The police have said they will increase their presence and anyone attempting to breach the cordon may be arrested.

In a letter circulated at a meeting of business and residents they state: “We will access our legally owned properties through the cordon surrounding the Glasgow School of Art.

“This will be accomplished in an orderly and peaceful manner in succession, one at a time, and for a period of 10-20 minutes, having full understanding and recognition of the risks associated therewith.”

Residents have been locked out since the fire on June 15. Since then, a security cordon has been in place while the building is brought down after building control officers assessed it as being at risk of sudden collapse.

David Hutchison, managing director of Biggars Music on Sauchiehall Street, said he supported the residents, who he said have been treated “appallingly”.

He said: “I think the residents are right. I will be joining the residents to support them on Sunday and at that point I will decide whether to access my own property.”

Annemarie O’Donnell, chief executive of Glasgow City Council, issued a strongly worded warning to anyone thinking of breaching the cordon.

She said: “You should not breach the cordon at any time until Glasgow City Council’s building control officers have declared that the GSoA and ABC buildings are no longer dangerous. This is because the building may be subject to a sudden, unannounced, collapse.”

She added: “That collapse could happen without warning. Anyone in any adjacent buildings in the path of falling masonry would be at risk of death.”

Ms O’Donnell warned: “Anyone who has been displaced in this way and reoccupies buildings while it is still dangerous is committing a criminal offence.

“I should tell you that I have today spoken to Police Scotland who will increase their presence at the cordon and may arrest anyone attempting to breach it.”

She also said work to demolish the building could be halted while there is a threat to breach the cordon.

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “Police Scotland officers remain at the cordon for public safety purposes. The building has been deemed dangerous by Glasgow City Council and anyone who enters the cordon is putting themselves at risk.

“If anyone enters they may find themselves arrested, however, this would be on the grounds of concern for their safety and in order to protect them.” Meanwhile, Glasgow School of Art bosses have responded to an open letter penned by angry business owners in the wake of the art school blaze.

Traders trapped inside the cordon around the devastated Mackintosh building demanded answers from the institution after a month of haemorrhaging customers and losing cash flow.

In the letter, addressed to Tom Inns, director of GSoA, the group questioned whether getting residents and businesses back into their properties is being treated as a priority by those in charge.

In response, Prof Inns said the GSoA governors have “prioritised the process of down-takings on the Mackintosh building ... to enable the whole Garnethill/Sauchiehall Street community to begin to return to normality”.

He added: “Whilst we greatly regret our own loss and the significant impact this fire has had and will have on our student community, our heartfelt thoughts and greatest sympathy go out to those residents who have been evacuated and remain displaced from their homes and those businesses and their employees that are currently displaced by the safety cordon.”