In Issue 2, we took a look at the different ways communities and local organisations are tackling cleansing issues in the neighbourhood. Living Rent, Scotland’s tenants union have been taking the fight to the council and demanding action.

by Louise Nicolas

Like so many other Govanhill residents, I’m fed up with the mess we see in our streets and backcourts, caused by insufficient investment from Glasgow City Council and slum landlords who profiteer from shoddy housing. So, last summer I joined a fast-growing group of local tenants and residents building a neighbourhood branch of Living Rent, Scotland’s tenants union.

The sole purpose of Living Rent Govanhill is to bring residents together to fight collectively for everything our area needs. Whether that means challenging unscrupulous landlords or holding politicians to account, we’re stronger when we come together.

Our first step was to speak with hundreds of our neighbours to understand the issues affecting residents. We heard time and time again about overflowing bins, fly-tipping and pest problems. So, we decided that our first campaign would be for investment in local cleansing services. It was clear how deeply the need was felt, but demanding investment from a council intent on budget cuts was never going to be easy. We would need to be organised, strategic and stubborn.

We mapped out this campaign in detail, thinking together about our specific demands, potential allies, opponents and tactics. We decided it would be vital to link up with our city’s intrepid cleansing workers who work daily in the unacceptable conditions which so clearly need to change. We reached out to the GMB, the trade union of cleansing workers in Glasgow, who were excited by the idea of a joint resident and worker campaign. Together we settled on the following demands:

A dedicated backcourt team responsible for uplift and upkeep within backcourt areas. (This work was once done as part of the general cleansing service.)
Greater enforcement to crack down on fly-tipping and litter in the area
A more targeted education programme on recycling and waste, including educational materials translated for those with English as their second language

Campaigning through a pandemic brought challenges, but the widespread support from residents and cleansing workers alike quickly propelled the campaign forward. Dozens of Living Rent and GMB members got to work with street-stalls, online outreach and hitting the phones. We placed petitions in almost every close in Govanhill. Signatures surged past 1500 in a matter of weeks.

Meanwhile, other members of the used Freedom of Information requests to uncover:

only 46 fly-tipping fines were issued in Glasgow in a year when there were 20,367 reports of fly-tipping
only one fly-tipping fine was issued in Govanhill between July and December 2020
reports of fly-tipping in Glasgow increased by 245 percent between April and August 2020
responsibility for tackling fly-tipping incidents across all of Glasgow is left to just four council officers

The culmination of first stage of the campaign was a ‘day of action’ where dozens of residents and workers collected over 100 black bags of rubbish from the streets and backcourts of Govanhill and heaped them at the Queens Park gates as evidence of Glasgow City Council’s neglect. This allowed us to show the need for investment in our cleansing services as well as proper enforcement on fly-tipping to prevent the issues from getting worse. We arranged for the rubbish to be collected so we were not leaving any mess behind.

Faced with mounting pressure, Glasgow City Council agreed to talks and the Thriving Places Govanhill group, agreed to support the proposal for backcourt teams. Many hoped that the council might finally be willing to invest in lasting solutions for the area, but those hopes proved premature. The talks were treated as an exercise in public relations and council representatives spoke evasively about “workstreams” and “locality plans,” without discussing any solution which involved further investment.

Unfortunately for Glasgow City Council, this campaign is only just getting started; both Living Rent Govanhill and GMB members are committed for the long haul. In the second stage of the campaign, we aim to mobilise the vast numbers of people who have supported our calls for investment via banner-drops, postering, letter-writing and a number of other strategies. We are out to win – not only so we can look at our backcourts and smile – but so we can prove the power of collective action in winning change for the Govanhill community.

To back this campaign, contact us at govanhill@livingrent.org with testimony of how cleansing issues have impacted you.