Mr Waheed Malik opened the meeting by confirming that he intends to operate a 74 bed single occupancy homeless hostel much to the horror of all attending who had been led to believe from press releases it was a high quality short stay hostel for tourists and backpackers.  

There are 200 homes in Broomfield Gardens, only a few received a letter from Glasgow City Council to notify them of the planning application and an opportunity to oppose these proposals. Those that did receive the letter, received it 2 weeks prior to objection deadline. This led to an overwhelming agreement of the community feeling blind-sided and raised serious concerns as to the secrecy as to why Mr Malik was unforthcoming to make this information public before tonight. 

Mr Malik confirmed that he owned the site and when questioned if he had an agreement in place at the time of the sale with Glasgow City Council (GCC) to receive planning permission for a homeless hostel, he denied this.  

Mr Malik attempted to play a presentation which he had prepared which included:  
Homeless death statistics in Glasgow (the fact that there has apparently been 0 deaths in his 15 bedroom Alba Hostel being the main selling point of his presentation),  
Picture of neds and short video clips of Broomfield Gardens which he advised showed that anti-social behaviour already exists in Barmulloch – this lead to outrage from the community with overwhelming anger as to why Barmulloch is then a great choice for a homeless location which could bring additional anti-social behaviours. 
A guarantee that no homeless person outside of the Springburn area would be housed in his hostel.  

Mr Malik was challenged on several items repeatedly: 

The fact that he had been working on the site since last September but only in the last two weeks had locals found out about the plans – No answer

The multitude of terrible reviews for the Alba hotel citing drink and drug abuse, bed lice and intimidation of clients.  – Mr Malik claimed that these were all before he took over in 2018.  

He was challenged on the 10pm closed door policy, the concern being that those clients who arrived or returned after 10 pm would wander the streets until the next day. He confirmed that all residents of the hostel would be let in after 10pm but then appeared to contradict himself saying it was to ensure that people did not come knocking on the door at 1am or 2am. 
It was pointed out to Mr Malik the Broomfield Crescent already has a vulnerable children’s home, who would be put at risk by the homeless unit residents – No answer was given.  

Mr Malik advised that he intends to work with GCC in vetting the clientele, no drugs or alcohol will be permitted on site but it was pointed out to him that this would be impractical and impossible to enforce as even prisons cannot prevent the import of drugs in particular to inmates. He intends to employ caseworkers 24/7 from GCC to support the homeless into permanent homes and that he will employ disclosure level checked staff to support. There was no clear answer as to the level of training or if the caseworkers and staff would be properly qualified to perform this role. 
Further questions were raised about his links with Glasgow City Council by the community and if the plans were a done deal – again, this was denied. 

When challenged as to how he plans on providing case workers and all the additional support that his clientele will require within Barmulloch which is under regeneration and densely residential, is over populated and has under resourced nurseries and schools where our most vulnerable local children cannot get the support they desperately need and local residents struggle to get access to GPs, medical support and stretched social services, Mr Malik could not answer this. 
Mr Malik advised he intends to invest in the local area by fitting a playground in the small section of land beside the homeless hostel but also confirmed that he could not guarantee our children’s safety in the community when his clientele are in the homeless hostel. The residents confirmed that their children would not play in a swing park which is housed beside the homeless hostel populated with 74 high risk adults due to the safety risk this could pose. He also advised that the community needs a pub and this is something he would like to deliver. This was met with outrage by the community who were furious at the audacity and ignorance when many in the area are already struggling financially with large rent and mortgage increases, cost of living, a baby & children’s foodbank 400m around the corner and lack of essential care such as GP and elderly care and many other essential services that a community requires to survive and thrive.  

Cllr Audrey Dempsey reminded the attendees that Barmulloch has not seen any attention or investment in these services in many years and now that it was clear that the community and local residents were appalled by his choice of location for a homeless hostel, what did he intend to do next. 
Mr Malik confirmed that he will withdraw his planning application temporarily but that he has no intention of walking away from the property/project. He would like to work with the local councillors and residents committee to re-evaluate his plans. 

The meeting took an emotional turn when a 14 year old resident stood up and shared her plea to Mr Malik that she is now terrified to walk to school as she has to pass by his homeless hostel and feels that as a young girl this invites unwelcomed attention from males as there will be increased loitering in the area. The question was asked as to safety measures Mr Malik will do for local residents who are already invested and living in the area and have been part of the regeneration of Barmulloch and helped built our quiet, close knit community into the home it is. After the meeting, Mr Malik advised one resident that we would arrange for her home to have an alarm fitted. 

The meeting ended and there was no doubt left from the community as to their overwhelming objection and despite Mr Malik’s promise to withdraw his application, there was a strong reminder to all who objected to lodge their official objection online at Online Planning - Glasgow City Council ref 23/02816/FUL or via email to Planningrepresentations@drs.glasgow.gov.uk  
No answers were provided to the residents on the negative impact of house prices in the local area throughout the presentation. Residents nearby that have recently moved into Broomfield Crescent made it abundantly clear that they would never have bought a house in the development had they been made aware a hostel was being created. 
 
Attendees included:  

124 members of the local community
Waheed Malik (Planning applicant) 
Councillor Audrey Dempsey (Ward 17) 
Councillor Thomas Rannachan (Ward 17) 
Councillor Christina Cannon (Ward 17) 
Councillor Allan Casey (Ward 22 City Convener for Workforce & Homelessness and Addiction Services) 
MSP Ivan McKee (Glasgow Provan) 
 
*This summary is not an official document, simply a summary from local residents who attended the meeting*