FIRE-HIT businesses are being forced to live in an 'alternate universe' as they accuse council bosses of lying about re-entry dates.

The claims come as MSP Pauline McNeill told Nicola Sturgeon the CCA on Sauchiehall Street is in “grave danger of closing”.

The venue is still within the safety cordon to the west of the Mackintosh building, which is not yet deemed safe

She raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions and asked Ms Sturgeon to ensure the centre gets the £20,000 hardship payment it has not yet received.

Ms McNeill spoke out as Francis McKee, the director of the CCA, said he urgently needs to have a meeting with Building Control to discuss the future of the building.

He said he had been led to believe that the CCA could re-open to the public on September 14, and had put in plans to do this, including giving the building a deep clean, clear the water supply, and other practical measures.

However, on Tuesday this week he was told that re-entry is not possible, and now has no end to the lock-out in sight.

He said: “We are now at a point of indefinite closure.

“There has been no direct communication with Building Control, and they have never sat down with us - this is what we need.

“It really is leaving us with a series of problems: a lack of a re-entry date is a killer in terms of running the business.

“We have a cash flow problem, because we have been closed for three months. We got a grant from Creative Scotland and we have eked it out, but it won’t last, and I am reluctant to ask them for more as they have been so helpful.

“The CCA has a busy period planned this autumn, but right now we don’t know whether it is going to go ahead.”

The CCA has remained closed since the major fire that destroyed the neighbouring Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh building in June.

Centre bosses claim they were given a possible date of September 14 for moving back into the building.

This was backed by Gill Hutchison, spokeswoman for the Sauchiehall Street Inner Cordon Businesses, who insists council officials spoke at a meeting on August 21 to say businesses could re-enter between September 4 and 7.

Ms Hutchison said: "It is absolutely a matter of fact that those dates were announced.

"I was sitting at the meeting with a room full of 70 other people who all heard the same thing.

"We were told a covered walkway would be built along Scott Street. There were no qualms about it. They were absolutely categoric.

"It beggars believe they would say this and then deny it but they have form with saying things they said didn't happen - it's like living in some kind of alternate universe."

Glasgow City Council said this was not the case.

A spokesman said: “The council has not, at any time, given a reoccupation date for this area.

“The council’s priority has always been to get residents and businesses safely back to their properties.

"As soon as The Glasgow School of Art makes sufficient progress on site to allow us to identify a safe re-entry date, the remaining displaced businesses will be the first to know.”

Creative Scotland has provided support but the CCA has not yet received money from the £5 million Fire Recovery Fund announced by the Scottish Government in July.

In response to Ms McNeill. Ms Sturgeon said: “This is a very important issue for Glasgow and Scotland.

"I considered it was right to set up the fund for business most affected by the School of Art fire and the earlier fire.”

She said it has taken longer to process the application from the CCA because it received public funding.

In July, The Glasgow School of Art began work to stabilise and dismantle sections at of the Mackintosh building that were at risk of imminent and sudden collapse.

This work was estimated to take eight weeks, ending this week but engineers have told the council work at the west end of the site, at Scott Street, is not complete and they could not commit to a date when it will be completed.

The building remains unsafe.