Homeless Project Scotland refused permission over 'increase in anti-social behaviour'

A homeless shelter in Glasgow is fighting to keep its doors open after it was refused planning permission over an alleged “increase in anti-social behaviour” among other reasons.

Lodging an appeal against the decision, charity Homeless Project Scotland said there was a lack of evidence that the shelter was causing anti-social behaviour and harming the local amenity.

On Tuesday, the charity will find out if it can continue to operate from its Merchant City base as councillors will decide whether to stick to the refusal or grant permission.

Based in Glassford Street, the shelter has a number of rooms with mattresses where about 30 people can sleep.

A soup kitchen also serves food to about 350 people a day and 100 “vulnerable” users of the shelter can eat inside while others take meals away.

CEO and founder Colin McInnes said in a statement: “If our night shelter is forced to close, 33 people every night will have nowhere safe or warm to go. That means 33 more people on Glasgow’s streets and with winter coming, the number of deaths will rise.”

Glasgow City Council rejected the plans for a number of reasons in April including that long queues of people at the shelter were causing a “negative impact on the perceived safety of walking routes in the vicinity”.

But Project Homeless Scotland said it has now resolved that concern by having a “queuing system” inside.
The council also said the proposal has resulted in an “elevated fear of crime” associated with a rise in anti social behaviour and crime according to police incident reports from before and after the shelter opened in December 2023.

The appeal from Homeless Project Scotland said: “Objections to the shelter’s operation, based on alleged antisocial behaviour and harm to local amenity, are unsubstantiated and speculative, lacking verifiable evidence such as incident reports or photographs.”

It added: “The appellant argues that the shelter does not cause homelessness or antisocial behaviour but mitigates it, improves public amenity, and serves vulnerable people, and that planning law prohibits penalising a use simply for addressing visible social problems.”

It continued: “Although public concern is treated as a material consideration, case law makes clear it must be objectively justified and proportionately weighed, not based on sentiment or stigma. No evidence links the shelter to harm, and Police Scotland has not objected.”

Councillor will decide on the application at the planning local review committee meeting next week.
Four letters of objections were submitted to the plans including from Merchant City and Trongate Community Council and the Spires Serviced Apartments.

There were two letters of support.