MPs, MSPs and delegates at last weekend’s Liberal Democrat Scottish Conference have backed the local community’s fight to save the lane.

Alistair Carmichael MP, Charles Kennedy MP and Hugh O’Donnell MSP have already been to the lane in person to give their support, as well as Scottish Lib Dem Leader Tavish Scott.

Alistair Carmichael MP, Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, said:

“Over 20 years ago, when I was a student at Glasgow University, I spent countless enjoyable hours browsing through the treasures of Voltair and Rousseau bookshop in Otago Lane. I well understand the outrage of local residents at the threat to this iconic West End lane posed by such an inappropriate development. Glasgow City Council should act to support character of the West End by refusing planning permission for this development rather than contributing to the destruction of what makes this part of the City special.”

Alison McInnes MSP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Local Government, said:

“I congratulate Katy Gordon and the Save Otago Lane campaigners for their sterling efforts to protect a unique part of Glasgow’s West End. The planning reform Liberal Democrats introduced when we were in govenrment in Holyrood was specifically designed to give greater weight to the local plan, such as the council’s Glasgow City Plan, and a greater weight to community opinion.

It’s clear that the local community doesn’t want this overdevelopment and wants Glasgow City Council to stick to the principles set out in its own City Plan. The council and the developers must listen to what local people are telling them and abandon this overdevelopment.”

“It’s great that so many Liberal Democrats have joined the march today. There’s clearly a huge amount of will here in Glasgow to support the climate change talks in Copenhagen in achieving a deal.”

You can see more from the Wave on YouTube:

And have a look at Stephen Glenn’s blog for another Lib Dem perspective on the march.

As part of Friends of the Earth Scotland’s Packaging Awareness Day, Katy joined Glasgow Councillors and members of the public outside the Sainsburys supermarket in Crow Road last weekend, Partick to demonstrate against excessive packaging.

Shoppers were encouraged to sign a petition calling for an end to excessive product packaging and the use of compostable and recyclable materials.

Jake Wilson, from Glasgow Friends of the Earth commented:

“Food packaging costs households £470 per year – that’s one sixth of the average food budget! In addition, over 40 percent of household rubbish that goes into landfill is supermarket packaging.”

“Most of it is unnecessary and is only adding to Scotland’s growing waste mountain.  Over-packaged goods waste a huge amount of valuable resources -  we hope that Sainsburys will listen and reduce the amount of packaging accordingly. The real challenge is to avoid waste in the first place – we want to see supermarkets composting their own food waste and providing biodegradable sources of packaging.”

Katy commented:

“I’m glad to be supporting local efforts at reducing excess packaging. The Liberal Democrats are leading the efforts in Parliament to tackle this problem. “

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said:

“We are completely committed to reducing the amount of packaging we use and making that packaging we do use recyclable.”

It is important to support local groups such as FORK, so that local residents can get the best from our area. FORK gets people involved in our community, and helps the environment.

Katy joined several hundred protesters in planting a flag in the area of the Botanic Gardens under threat of redevelopment if the plan to build a nightclub on the site by G1 Group goes ahead. While there have been indications in the press recently that G1 Group may abandon their plans for such a development, nothing is yet certain. So the Save our Botanics campaign organised today’s event to remind local residents and the media of the strength of opposition to the plans. Katy said:

I was very happy to stake my claim to this site as belonging to the people of Glasgow. The Botanics are an academic botanical institution with an international reputation and it would not be appropriate for a nightclub or any other large scale facility to be built on this site. Our Liberal Democrat councillors have been working hard to persuade the Labour council to recognise the strength of feeling on this issue and we are hopeful that this is bearing fruit. Glaswegians have given an emphatic thumbs down to the plans. What we need is a proper consultation on what should be done with the site (as should have happened in the first place) before any further moves are made to alter the current state of the area.