Stuart Patrick, Glasgow’s diplomatic CEO of the city’s Chamber of Commerce, didn’t mince his words in The Herald last week. In a very welcome critique of the city’s SNP/Green administration, he said: “There has been no shortage of criticism levelled at Glasgow City Council for the management of the city centre.”

Alarmingly, he pointed out that, “Footfall growth stuttered in the lead up to Christmas but has now reversed into decline” with a staggering 200,000 less people visiting the city centre in January/ February than in the same period last year. And that Glasgow, sadly, continues to be outperformed by other UK cities such as Leeds and Manchester."

Stuart rightly cited the cost-of living crisis and online shopping as possible reasons behind the decline. He said Glasgow’s city centre remains by far the biggest concentration of employment and business investment in the region but that too many decisions are being made by the council “which are hampering the city centre’s recovery”.

The Herald: How Sauchiehall Street was supposed to look How Sauchiehall Street was supposed to look (Image: free)

I couldn’t agree more, but I should also point out that the council's unrelenting attacks on the motorist, starting with the introduction of the city’s discriminatory Low Emission Zones – highway robbery – which has seen over 35,000 motorists, many of them on low incomes, hit with disproportionate fines, £60 or higher, since last June will also have contributed to the dramatic drops in footfall and the creation of what could be dubbed a 'low economy zone'.

And let’s not forget the badly managed and much maligned multi-million-pound Avenue projects. These transformational highway schemes could also be part of the problem, not the solution as many of our arterial routes are ripped up, at a snail’s pace, to be turned into superfast UberEATS and Deliveroo cycle expressways and empty bus lanes – leaving road chaos and congestion in their wake. And with no reliable public transport alternatives in place to pick up the slack, motorists are being driven out of the city to shop elsewhere. Maybe, just maybe, this obsessive rol-out of unused avenues is also to blame for the decline.

Recently we’ve also had the council's farcical night-time parking proposals and the raising of parking rates scaring motorists away. The increased rates have stayed in place but the nigh-time parking proposals were quickly binned after they were slammed by the Chamber of Commerce, business leaders Lord Willie Haughey and Sir Tom Hunter, a broad collective of trade bodies including the Federation of Small Business, NTIA, SHG, SLTA, and enraged councillors of all parties who hadn’t been told about these charges until the last minute and, of course, myself, who lambasted this retrograde policy on Scotland Tonight.

Well, it is said that success has many fathers, and this small win is a case in point.

It has been a depressing fall from grace for this Dear Green Place which was once regarded as Scotland’s retail powerhouse and laid claim to being the UK's champion of the Night Time Economy but which now, in parts, lies empty and forlorn, with boarded up shops outnumbering those struggling to stay open and where a notorious Heras-fenced, litter-strewn trench, instead of a tree-lined pedestrianised boulevard, now greets visitors entering Sauchiehall Street.

READ MORE

Holyrood has quietly applied some good sense to Scots Law quirks

Mhairi Black at the Fringe? You've got to laugh, surely

Mismanagement failings which have got the backs up of a great many concerned citizens who, as the city stagnates, have become increasingly vocal and angry at the council's obdurate decision making and inflexible policies.

Something I experienced in the raw, when I recently spoke at a jam-packed meeting of The Together Association, which campaigns vigorously against LEZ/ULEZ & LTNs.

The anger expressed by hundreds of ordinary people, opposed to those undemocratic impositions was palpable, so much so you could taste it. Proof, that there is a groundswell of public opinion railing against the council which has become inured to their concerns.

Business tycoons Lord Willie Haughey, Sir Tom Hunter and the Easdale brothers are also at odds with the council. With Lord Haughey and Sir Tom calling on them to remove all barriers to trade, abolish parking policies that punish businesses, and demand that they now listen to the people.

Sage advice also came from FSB’s Colin Borland who said: “With their significant spending and decision-making powers, our councils could be real drivers of local economic growth – but only if they work with local small businesses.”

Stephen Montgomery, of The Scottish Hospitality Group, added: "The people who are best placed to advise local or central governments are those who are at the coal face, and only by proper dialogue and consultation will we ever see meaningful changes or improvements.”

The Herald: How Sauchiehall Street actually looks How Sauchiehall Street actually looks (Image: Newsquest)

Well, they can’t all be wrong, can they? Collaboration, meaningful dialogue, consultation, and immediately acting on the valuable advice given, is what everyone wants and yet in all too many cases, the polar opposite has happened.

Positive measures could include the lifting of the city’s LEZ's restrictions from 6pm-6am to boost Glasgow's struggling night time economy, replacing the punishing fining system with a daily use charge, lowering the parking rates not increasing them, which would drive up footfall, spend, and encourage investment, as would encouraging staff to return to the office.

These are just some of the constructive steps, a few green shoots of recovery that could help Glasgow thrive and halt its damaging and depressing decline.

Donald Macleod, MD Holdfast Entertainment Group/CPL and a spokesman for The Nighttime Industries Association