Conservation plea after historic Glasgow lamp-posts removed
- Published
One of the ornate lamp-posts removed from Queen Margaret Bridge
The sudden removal of historic ornate lamp-posts has sparked anger among Glasgow residents.
Lighting columns on the city's Queen Margaret Bridge, which date back to 1929, vanished earlier this month and were replaced by modern steel posts.
Glasgow City Council said they made the switch due to the older posts, which date back to 1929, being a safety risk.
But local MSP Paul Sweeney has called for the columns to be conserved and placed back into usage.
Both the bridge and columns fall under the Glasgow West Conservation Area, which gives them protected status.
The abrupt disappearance prompted some residents to tape missing posters to the replacement posts, querying where the Edwardian designs had gone.
Of the five columns removed, three are beyond repair and will be scrapped.
The remaining two will be retained for "possible" use in the future.
Mr Sweeney, a Glasgow regional MSP, blamed "a lack of care and maintenance" for the condition of the lamp-posts.
He said: "As the outrage across the city attests to, Glaswegians have pride in their built environment, and that includes traditional street furniture like this.
"I will work with Glasgow City Council to make sure the saved lamp-posts are reinstalled following repair.
"The council should also follow the example of Edinburgh, Dublin, London and Brighton and commission replica cast iron lamp-posts that can be used in conservation areas such as Queen Margaret Drive and in places where historic lamp-posts have been removed in recent years, such as on George Square."
New steel posts have been placed on the bridge
Norry Wilson, who runs the popular Lost Glasgow Facebook page, feels that structures such as the lamp-posts play a key role in a city's identity.
He said "Good street furniture - like familiar neighbours, and friendly dogs - should be part of our everyday; we should say 'hello' to them; knowing that our parents and grandparents walked past the same. It's part of what makes us, and Glasgow, 'us'.
"The city has already lost too much of its iron soul to let these vanish without a shout."
Public safety
But Glasgow City Council said there had been "significant deterioration" inside the structures.
A spokesperson said: "To protect public safety, the older columns were removed as a matter of urgency and to ensure suitable street lighting remains in place, new lighting columns have been installed.
"We fully understand the enjoyment that residents take from the city's built heritage and so the decorative bases of two lighting columns have been retained with a view to possible, future use."
They added that the bases could be refurbished "within existing resources".
The spokesperson said the remaining three would be replaced by designs similar to the original.