Protest groups head for City Chambers face-off

PROTESTERS from across Glasgow are preparing to take their campaigns to the upcoming City Council meeting.

An anti-fracking campaign group will be handing a petition to councillors while living rent protestors will be rallying outside the City Chambers ahead the meeting which is due to take place tomorrow.

Frackwatch Glasgow have created a petition with more than 800 signature to “Keep Glasgow a Frack-free Zone”.

The group will be handing the document to councillors at their full council meeting tomorrow along with copies of submissions that Milton Community Council and Robroyston Community Council recently made to the Scottish Government.

Both community councils held meetings for their residents to discuss fracking with both coming out strongly against the practices taking place in their area.

A spokesman for Frackwatch Glasgow, said: “We want to be sure that the newly-elected councillors are clear about the public’s strong feeling against fracking. As we campaigned all over the city, we found a handful of supporters and a majority of people strongly opposed. If the new council takes a strong stand against fossil fuel extraction in our city, they will find that the public is totally on their side.

“We would like the council to pass a resolution confirming that the previous administration’s opposition to fracking still stands, and that they will support the campaign to get the Scottish government to ban it.”

Living Rent Scotland’s Tenants Union will hold a rally for city wide rent control in support of the motion being debated by councillors at the meeting. The motion to undertake a feasibility study is the first step towards rent controls in the city.

Councillor Ruairi Kelly, of Glasgow’s North East, will be proposing that a study is commissioned to look at the potential options around implementing either a city-wide or localised Rent Pressure Zones to limit annual increases in the privately rented sector.