Scottish ministers ‘should decide fate of gasworks’
THE future of the Provan gas holders has taken another twist as an MSP calls for ministers to make the final decision on the listed landmarks.
As told in the Evening Times in April, MP Paul Sweeney called for creative ideas for the famous twin gasometers that sit off the M8.
It came after owners of the site, Scotland Gas Networks (SGN), moved to appeal the B-listed status of the site.
DPEA (Planning and Environmental Appeals Department) should give the final verdict but Glasgow MSP Adam Tomkins has called on Scottish ministers to make the final decision.
He has written to Scottish Ministers and also lodged a Parliamentary Question, seeking that appeals for the SGN owned gas holders ultimately be determined by ministers.
Mr Tomkins said: “I would urge that these appeals be recalled for consideration directly by Scottish Ministers, so that they can look at the three appeals together.
“This is a national issue and determination by Scottish Ministers will allow them to take consideration of the economic, social and health and safety aspects of the listings and thereby judge them collectively.”
The bid to recall the decision also covers gas holders at Strathcona Drive, Temple, and Grange Road in Dunfermline. All three were listed by HES (Historic Environment Scotland).
Those against the move – including SGN – claim keeping them will be too expensive, not commercially viable and will impact on the future use of the brownfield sites they occupy.
But those who support protecting the giant structures point to other countries where gasometers are turned into parks, housing development and gallery spaces.
SGN also said the structures pose a health and safety risk to employees, contractors, members of the public and anyone who chooses to enter the sites and climb them.
Provan Gas Works was built between 1900 and 1904 by the Glasgow Corporation and expanded to become one of the largest in Britain.
The structures were classed as category B-listings while office buildings on the site were given C-listings. In a report, HES said the Provan structures were “a rare survival of their type”.
In the 1980s they were famously used to carry huge Glasgow’s Miles Better placards and form a landmark at the side of the M8.