On Sunday 17th of February, around 1000 people gathered at Pollok Park to protest the building of the Go Ape treetop adventure course, which they say is a bad deal for Glasgow and has had a badly flawed consultation.

1000 turn out to protest

Local people and park users formed a human chain that circled the site of the proposed development, carrying placards and banners. The park, which was voted Best in Britain last year, is already home to the Burrell Collection and Pollok House, and was gifted to the people of Glasgow by the Maxwell family in 1969. Opponents of the Go Ape development argue that this land belongs to the people of Glasgow and is not the right place for such a commercial venture. The adventure park will cost £25 per adult and £20 for a teenager to use, and campaigners argue that the cost is too high for lower income families, and as such represents a bad deal for the people of Glasgow. Moreover, the consultation appears to have been missed by the majority of park users. A Freedom Of Information request from a park user revealed that only a single notice was placed on a park lamp-post on November 9th 2007, and that the council could not confirm how long it remained there. During the 6 week consultation period in September and October last year, the council state that they received 237 responses: 199 positive and 38 negative. They argue that they have a mandate from the public to proceed with the development, based on this response. However, opponents of the Pollok Park development argue that the scale of the protest at Pollock park makes the consultation seem sorely deficient. The council is offering a 21 year lease of part of the park for an eventual return of 8% of Go Ape's gross turnover. The company proposing the 'Go Ape' development is Adventure Forest Ltd, and has 16 similar facilities all around Britain including one in Aberfoyle, Stirlingshire Based on the figures provided by Adventure Forest Ltd, Campaigners estimate that the Council will only get £125,000 per year from the deal, but Go Ape will make £1 million net profit every year. Campaigners from Save Pollok Park argue that the amount of money the council stands to make from the development is a terrible deal, and will not provide enough money for public services to compensate for the loss of parts of the park. The proposed development is due to be considered by the City Councils Planning Committee early in March. Meanwhile, Save Pollok Park will continue their campaign and hope to provoke a new consultation process.

a small part of the human chain