Glasgow Green MSP leads debate on action to protect Queen’s Park Glasshouse
Scottish Green MSP for Southside, Holly Bruce, has led a Member’s Debate urging MSPs to back the campaign to save the iconic Queen’s Park Glasshouse.
Hailing the hundreds of messages she has had from constituents, Holly outlined the many health and social benefits brought by the site and what local residents want for its future.
In her opening speech, Holly said:
“Queen’s Park Glasshouse is not just a building. It is a crucial civic asset, one whose public value has only become more important in the face of austerity and degrading public assets, many of which have been left to deteriorate and sit abandoned, leaving depressing relics of what could have been, scattered across not only Glasgow, but throughout Scotland.
“My constituents have said loud, proud and very clear that they will not stand by and watch that happen to the Glasshouse.
“For over a century, the Glasshouse has provided numerous benefits to Glasgow Southside. It has hosted weddings, live music, family events, and festivals. It has housed a cafe and a children’s soft play area, supported horticultural education, and provided a calm, sheltered greenspace of refuge for Glasgow residents and visitors.
“I’ve received hundreds of individual emails from constituents across Glasgow Southside, telling me that this really matters to them, and asking me to do something about it. What has struck me isn’t just the volume of emails that I've received but that each person has their own relationship to the Glasshouse.
“Many young people wrote to me to tell me that when they find life in the city overwhelming, they go there to reflect, restore and just to rest. They tell me that the Glasshouse was a place of sanctuary in some of their most vulnerable times.
“While we look to improve the mental health of young people across Scotland, we must listen to them and provide calm spaces to support their wellbeing. Many have said that’s exactly what the Glasshouse is, a coping mechanism in dark times.
“That’s why the Save Queen’s Park Glasshouse campaign has been working tirelessly to stop the glasshouse from being closed. It’s why over 13,000 people signed a petition in support of the campaign’s aims to keep the glasshouse publicly owned, publicly run, and publicly accessible, with future use developed through meaningful, deep community engagement.
“They have also been clear that they want this to result in a space which will continue to provide social, environmental, cultural, educational, and wellbeing benefits, as the Glasshouse has done for over a century.”