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Hostel expansion plan withdrawn after 'shouting and drinking' complaints

News imageGalsey Enterprise A large red brick hostel building, with a car park next to it and greenery in the distance behind it. A purple and white sign saying TARTAN LODGE is placed at the top of the building.Galsey Enterprise
The owners of the Tartan Lodge hoped to double the number of rooms there

Plans to expand a Glasgow hostel have been withdrawn after neighbours raised fears over a potential rise in anti-social behaviour.

Owners of the Tartan Lodge on Alexandra Parade in the city's Dennistoun area hoped to double the number of rooms there.

The hostel bills itself as a "boutique" option for budget travellers but objectors say the hostel is used as temporary homeless accommodation and claimed police have been called out there over 250 times in two years to deal with issues including "shouting" and people drinking in public.

Glasgow City Council has now updated its online planning portal to state the application has been withdrawn.

Sixteen more rooms would have been created under the proposal.

Politicians said they did not oppose the principle of providing temporary accommodation to vulnerable homeless people, but argued the specific site - a converted Victorian church and Masonic lodge - was unsuitable.

The Glasgow list MSP Paul Sweeney said the hostel has "generated an unacceptable level of distress for neighbouring residents", with police called out 258 times in two years.

He added: "Residents regularly endure shouting, disorder, aggressive behaviour, public drinking, suspected drug-related activity, and constant loitering at all hours.

"The sheer volume of police interventions and the daily disruption faced by families and elderly residents conclusively prove that this site is currently neither safe nor pleasant."

The Labour MSP also raised concerns about the proposed use of brick, rather than red sandstone, which would match the original building.

Councillor Allan Casey, the city convener for homelessness, said residents had told him the new proposal could increase already existing concerns.

Dennistoun Community Council said the extension to Tartan Lodge was "inappropriate in terms of scale, design, appearance and impact on the architectural and historical character of the existing building".

The applicants, Galsey Enterprises, had sought to build a multi-storey extension to the existing hostel.

The plan originally submitted on behalf of the firm stated the proposal "represents a logical and sustainable development on an existing urban site".

Story by Local Democracy Reporting Service reporter Drew Sandelands.