Almost 400 flats to be built on gym site despite campaign

Almost 400 flats can be built on the site of a “well-loved” Finnieston gym after councillors backed the plan due to the city’s housing emergency.

Campaigners’ efforts to save the Nuffield Health gym suffered a major blow as landowners Redevco were granted permission for build-to-rent homes on the Minerva Way land.

Councillors on Glasgow’s planning committee cited the housing crisis as a key reason for their decision, after expressing sympathy with gym-goers.

Over 2,100 people signed a petition against the project, and disappointed objectors said they would consider whether to challenge the ruling.

The committee voted seven to three in favour of the 391-flat development, which the applicants said would meet “housing need”, at a meeting today (Tuesday).

Speaking after the planning hearing, one of the objectors, Dr David Johnson, said: “I don’t think that it will do anything to help the affordable housing emergency. The development has no 25 per cent affordable housing, which all new developments should have.”

Council planners had recommended the scheme could be approved and told the committee the site is “currently underdeveloped”.

One official said the gym was “well-used and well-loved” but its loss had been established by a previous planning application approved in 2021. They also said there were other leisure facilities nearby.

A representative from Redevco said the firm bought the site in 2022 with planning consent in place but has “sought to improve the offer”.

He said Nuffield Health’s previous lease had expired in November last year and there was now a clause which allowed the owners to break the lease with three months’ notice.

Councillors were told the building is currently in a “quite poor” condition. They also heard how the plan would meet “housing need in a sustainable location on a brownfield site”.

However, objector Richard Bush said: “Much is made of the 2020 permission, but this expires very shortly and the current application proposes double the number of flats.”

He added the latest national planning framework “emphasises improving the health of west central Scotland and opportunities for play, socialising, relaxation and physical activity, which is exactly what this gym does”.

Dr Catherine Ford said Finnieston has seen “an explosion of development” and needs “health and leisure facilities in an area that has the lowest amount of open space per head of population”.

She added it was “incorrect” to suggest there were equivalent health and leisure facilities nearby.

Planning committee chairman Cllr Ken Andrew, SNP, said: “We have a huge homelessness problem and what this does is it increases the housing stock in Glasgow.

“It basically will take pressure off existing housing tenure types. It is regrettable that we lose the gym but there are other facilities locally.”

Cllr Paul Leinster, SNP, said it was a “high quality development”, adding: “I have a huge amount of sympathy for the objectors with regards to the loss of the gym, but whether we grant it today or not has no bearing on whether the gym continues to exist.”

He said the landowner could shut the gym down in a few months regardless of the committee’s decision.

Cllr Imran Alam and Cllr Saqib Ahmed, both Labour, and Cllr John Daly, Conservative, backed the application due to the city’s housing crisis.

Cllr Alam said: “As we are all aware we are going through a housing crisis in the city. Any space we are able to build upon should be considered.

“I do feel for the 3,000 or so members who will potentially lose membership, albeit they might be able to use the other facility, although that might not be viable for some people.”

Cllr Martha Wardrop, Cllr Elaine Gallagher and Cllr Eva Bolander opposed the development. Cllr Wardrop said she would have backed the plan if the land was empty, but she wanted to see the gym retained.

Cllr Bolander added she felt there were “shortcomings” in the council’s own policies, as a masterplan was required for the Finnieston area. “I think that is a problem when we have assessed this application,” she said.

Redevco will pay over £247,000 as the scheme does not meet the requirements for amenity space, children’s play and outdoor sport.

Plans include a gym for residents, a library, lounge areas, bike stores, roof gardens and a central courtyard.