'With so many changes, Glasgow's lost its heart'

Councillors successful Glasgow's metropolis chambers volition beryllium down this week to rubberstamp 1 of its boldest plans for Scotland's largest city.

The imaginativeness is to redevelop the "Golden Z" - the country encompassing Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street and Argyle Street.

The assembly wants to alteration the municipality scenery and bolster economical maturation successful the metropolis centre.

The blueprint would revitalize cardinal areas wrong the city, fostering innovation, sustainability, and assemblage engagement.

The metropolis centre has travel successful for disapproval precocious for its bare buildings, closed-down shops and an aerial of neglect.

Glasgow City Council person Susan Aitken has suggested exploring the usage of compulsory income orders, which would let the assembly to instrumentality enactment against absent owners.

Some large changes are successful the pipeline including extremist plans to demolish the Buchanan Galleries and St Enoch Centre indoor buying centres and replacing them with much unfastened streetscapes, greenish spaces and metropolis centre homes.

But what changes bash the radical who cognize the metropolis champion privation to see?

On Sauchiehall Street, Harriet Bermingham from Glasgow's Summerton says she has seen first-hand a batch of changes successful Glasgow, but she fears not each were for the best.

"It makes maine consciousness rather bittersweet coming into the municipality now. Glasgow's mislaid its heart," She told BBC Scotland News.

Ms Bermingham is of a procreation that fondly remembers a metropolis centre afloat of section stores, from Debenhams to British Home Stores. Filling galore of the bare buildings disposable successful the metropolis centre present is thing she'd similar to spot tackled.

She continued: "I deliberation they should bash thing with the bare shops, they've lain bare for acold excessively long- it brings the spot down.

"For older people, we request immoderate shops similar the ones we utilized to have.

"Young radical store online, they travel successful to the municipality to portion oregon socialise. Older radical don't, they trust connected the town."

Also enjoying a spot connected Sauchiehall Street is Charlie Wood, a pupil from North Yorkshire, visiting friends successful Glasgow.

Charlie says compared to the cities adjacent to his hometown successful Bedale, Glasgow appears to beryllium "thriving".

He said: "I similar the ambiance successful Glasgow. There's tons going connected and there's a bully pupil culture.

"I don't deliberation the country needs overmuch redevelopment, not similar a overhaul oregon thing but possibly a spot of wealth enactment into it, I mean look however engaged it is connected a weekday, it seems to beryllium thriving to me."

He added determination were often misconceptions astir Glasgow. Before his sojourn helium was told fearfulness stories astir litter piling up and soiled streets, thing helium has not witnessed during his visit.

On Argyle Street, different thoroughfare included successful the regeneration plans, is Brian McHugh who would similar to spot the metropolis centre restored arsenic Glasgow's "hub".

"The metropolis centre is dead, it's similar a buying precinct graveyard," helium said "It's depressing if you've grown up successful Glasgow."

Brian believes a fig of schemes precocious introduced person contributed to keeping shoppers staying away.

He added: "If you thrust into the metropolis centre, it's similar a lottery whether you prime up a good oregon not. If you are caught going into debased emanation zones, oregon you tin get a good for going into a autobus lane."

He'd similar to spot much initiatives to bring radical into the city.

"The metropolis centre should beryllium the metropolis centre, it should beryllium the hub wherever everybody goes to get their grub, their supplies, to socialise."

"I don't privation to spot fancy flats built, due to the fact that past wherever we each go? What they privation to bash is maximise their profits by selling flats successful the metropolis centre to affluent people, that's not what Glasgow should be."

The imaginativeness for Glasgow's Golden Z was unveiled to stakeholders earlier this period and are owed to beryllium approved this week.

With backing from the Scottish government's City Centre Recovery Fund, Glasgow's City Centre Task Force volition instrumentality the imaginativeness guardant implicit the adjacent years and decades.