JORDANHILL residents are right to protest strongly against the plan to build more than 400 housing units in the grounds of the former teaching training college and the conversion of the listed Stow Building into flats, with any thought at all apparently given to related schooling needs, local amenities or transport access problems (“Support builds for green space protest”, The Herald, April 22).

The site owner, Strathclyde University, has never shown much interest in the site since it absorbed the former Jordanhill College of Education more than 25 years ago, carrying out minimal maintenance and repairs to the listed Stow Building and the grounds. I suspect it always regarded it primarily as an investment which could eventually produce a handsome financial return by selling it off to developers. In retrospect, the transfer of all teacher training activities to its main city-centre site was just the next logical step in this plan.

If approved, this extensive housing project will destroy one of the few remaining green belt sites in the west end of Glasgow (apart from the two city-owned public parks, which themselves have over recent years been subject to severe neglect and deterioration). Of course over the years the city’s predominately-Labour councillors have never shown much interest in, or support for, this end of the city, and have allowed many green spaces to be built on. This always provided more local rates to help pay for their local junketing in the City Chambers and for their fact-finding missions to far-off sunny places.

The planning committee which will make the fateful decision is scheduled for Thursday (April 27), and will be the final meeting of this committee before the local elections on May 4, when I suspect its members will finally all be replaced and have to go back to their day jobs, if they ever had any. Let’s hope that one of their final planning decisions is to reject this ill-conceived application.

Iain A D Mann,

7 Kelvin Court, Glasgow.