'Glasgow needs to do more to help make our communities'

Glasgow Times

29-05-2025

In the pedestrian tunnel below Cathcart Train Station, community councillors, city councillors, local citizens, and families all gathered to witness this achievement.
And a great achievement it was!
Where formerly there had been a dark train station tunnel, it was transformed with a bright burst of warm colours saying, 'Welcome to Cathcart' - and saying very proudly that no matter who you are or where you are from, welcome to our community.
This was an important statement, particularly in these times of polarisation, and all credit has to go to the local Cathcart, Merrylee, and Muirend Community Council for championing this project by surveying local people, determining their priorities, and seeing this priority brought to completion.
I can't wait to see what they do next!
Protecting and enhancing our community infrastructure is vital.
We need spaces where new and old communities come together to establish common agendas and priorities.
One of the key elements of this is protecting our bricks-and-mortar community infrastructure.
That is why Glasgow Labour very proudly protected Ruchill Community Centre from closure by the SNP administration last week.
It is also why we strongly opposed the SNP attempt to close the Couper Institute in the 2024 budget for Glasgow.
Our communities are full of talent and passion, these are expressed and brought together in our vital community facilities where, in many places, Glasgow meets the world next door.
Of the people gathered in that tunnel in Cathcart, you will probably find one hundred different stories and points of origin, but all brought together for a common community purpose.
My own family are a proud part of the strong Donegal Irish community in the southside of Glasgow, and I was very lucky that in my time growing up in places like Cathcart and Simshill, and attending Holyrood Secondary School, the Donegal community was a very strong presence throughout, with many shared experiences with school peers of long summers 'over by' with parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles.
I'm incredibly proud now to represent so many friends and family, having been elected a local councillor for Linn Ward in November 2022 and having lived in the area for the best part of 30 years — including having been a local Evening Times paperboy, no less.
Like many others who have come to Glasgow from all over the world, and all over Scotland, my own family came here to find work.
My maternal grandfather was a corporation bus driver in Glasgow and my paternal grandmother worked in our NHS as a nurse in Rottenrow Maternity Hospital.
Work was a key enabler of life, and with that, security, family, and community.
Yet currently, the city is lagging behind.
According to the latest ONS figures, our unemployment rate stands at 5.1%, a rise on the previous year, and higher than the figure across Scotland as a whole.
We have also seen a decrease in the employment rate as a whole, whilst the rest of Scotland has seen an increase.
These figures are particularly stark in areas like Drumchapel, Castlemilk, and Easterhouse, where poverty, unemployment, and structural inequality are still too often deeply rooted, cutting off opportunity and security for individuals and families for multiple generations.
We need these communities to be brought into the heart of our city's growth and economic development.
That is why it is an absolute priority for Glasgow Labour that Glasgow is laser-focused on attracting the jobs of the future and enabling our young people with the skills to attract those jobs.
Not only is it a key driver of growth, but also the best way to combat the inequality which still too often pervades our society by building up our communities, supporting our local assets, and providing security and opportunity to families.
Glasgow needs to do more to help make our communities, as it is our communities who ultimately make Glasgow great.