(Image: Colin Mearns)
Glasgow City Council's leader has said he is "keen" for a citizens' assembly-style route to consider the "big issues facing the city".
City leader Ricky Bell was asked whether he would back a new, more open direction to improve the city, as the new chief was asked about issues such as the influx of Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) and the introduction of bin hubs.
The Garnethill and Woodlands Residents' Committee raised concerns about public engagement in council decision-making amid the backdrop of their ongoing opposition to a proposed 314-bed PBSA development at St George's Road in Woodlands, where residents have raised concerns about the loss of local businesses, community facilities and heritage buildings.
They wrote to the newly elected council leader, arguing that the local authority needed to rebuild trust with residents by moving away from what they described as a "top-down" approach to governance.
Citing opposition to bin hub installations and purpose-built student accommodation developments in Woodlands, they claimed that many residents felt Glasgow City Council had prioritised developers and imposed decisions without meaningful community input.
The council announced this week that more bin hubs are on the way. So far, 700 hubs have been installed at pilot areas, with the new, purpose-built bin hubs servicing, on average, 40 flats and located at the front of properties.
Read More:Glasgow City Council's** latest student accommodation briefing note** identified 21,655 operational student beds across the city and a further 18,213 beds in the development pipeline, potentially taking total provision to almost 40,000 bedspaces if all schemes proceed. The council's evidence base has previously suggested a need for around 6,000 additional student bedspaces over the plan period.
In the email, they highlighted a model launched in Dunfermline in 2025, in which Fife Council, the Electoral Reform Society Scotland and the Scottish Government created the Dunfermline New City Assembly. That process culminated in 35 residents, selected through a civic lottery, meeting to generate recommendations for the council to help shape the city's future.
Their website states: "The goal is simple: the people who live in Dunfermline should help decide its future – because nobody knows Dunfermline better than the people who live there."
Ireland has become a pioneer in citizens' assemblies, using them to examine major constitutional and social issues, including abortion, climate change, and parliamentary reform.
Responding, Bell said he agreed local people have an important role in shaping their communities and stressed that "meaningful engagement is not an optional extra".
He defended the council's bin hub programme, saying that as a councillor in Govan, he found many residents were initially sceptical but had come to recognise benefits, including improved access to back courts. He added that officers had been willing to review hub locations where problems emerged.
Addressing concerns over student accommodation, Bell said it was "entirely reasonable" for residents to question the cumulative impact of development on neighbourhoods and housing availability, while noting Glasgow's role as a hub for students.
Cllr Bell added: "I am keen that we continue to explore ways of involving citizens more effectively and making better use of the experience, knowledge and ideas that exist within our communities."
When asked by The Herald to clarify his position on holding a citizens' assembly in Glasgow, Cllr Bell said: “Strengthening participation in local decision-making is a really interesting challenge – and Glasgow has already had some success with these kinds of models while developing the city’s Just Transition Action Plan, for example.
“I’m keen to continue to develop that approach and I’m very happy to listen to suggestions about how Glasgow ensures it has the benefit of bringing together a wide range of voices and experiences whenever we consider big issues facing the city.”
A spokesperson for the Garnethill and Woodlands Residents' Committee said: "Words come cheap. We all want far, far better for our neighbourhoods, so let's put the new leader's words to the test and apply whatever pressure our communities can muster to turn them into genuine improvements from which everyone and our local environments benefit."