DRUMCHAPEL residents have criticised Glasgow City Council's (GCC) "vague" communications over housing plans in relation to the Levelling Up funding that the area will receive.

It was confirmed back in November that the UK government had awarded the local authority £14.98million to help develop the town centre.

GCC then pledged a further £1.64m of their own to the project earlier this year, taking the final total to £16.64m.

A press release in February described the funding as helping to 'deliver new housing and revamp the town centre, including a new public plaza and an improved transport network with better walking and cycling routes.'

(Image: Gordon Terris) It will also include enhanced community facilities, new green space and street furniture and work to address local flooding issues.

Design teams are currently being put together by the council, and a project programme which includes further public consultation is being prepared. 

Public realm and road works are programmed to be on site in the Spring of 2025 and completed later that year, with works to provide new community facilities expected to begin in Spring 2025 with completion in early 2026.

(Image: Glasgow City Council)

(Image: Glasgow City Council) The area highlighted for housing is behind the shopping centre, it is currently abandoned waste ground that has become a hotbed for fly-tipping.

The initial communications on the funding do not explicitly say that the money available will be used by GCC to build houses.

However, Andrew Lynch, chair of Drumchapel Community Council (DCC), feels that the publicised statements from GCC have led to confusion among residents due to the way the housing plans have been described.

He said: "I have had many people who live here asking me about when housing will be put into the allocated space behind the shopping centre.

(Image: Gordon Terris) "I have had to explain that there is no clear date for this currently as the council themselves are not building houses but rather the funding will help clear the site for social landlords to come in and build.

"GCC officers have told us at community council meetings that the money will not be used to build houses, but I have not seen it spelt out like that in any of the press releases or other statements.

"Not everyone is as tuned into local issues as the community council is, so that is why they should have been making clear on a larger platform that this is the case."

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However, GCC has now explicitly told the Glasgow Times that they will not be using the funding to build homes.

A spokesperson said: “We are not building houses as part of the project - we are assembling sites to enable registered social landlords to do so afterwards.

"This means that the Levelling Up Fund project is one part of continued investment in the local area.

(Image: Gordon Terris) "Work on the Levelling Up Fund project is ongoing and we are dealing with a number of different stakeholders, including registered social landlords.”

We previously reported on DCC's hopes of social housing being built on the site of the old Summerhill Primary School.

And Andrew once highlighted what he feels is a "housing crisis" in the area.

"There are people in Drumchapel who are in their 40s and living with their parents because of a lack of housing," he continued.

"We are in the midst of a housing crisis and it needs resolved.

"We have been in dialogue with GCC for at least 20 years about the issue."