The battle for the soul of our urban wilderness
By Karin Goodwin

THE oak, sycamore and elm stand tall and silent. Yet nothing is still here among the ancient trees of Pollok Park. Birds nest in the crook of gnarled branches, leaves ready themselves to unfurl. And something else is stirring. This peaceful pocket of woodland is at the heart of a bitter battle involving local people, developers, city councillors and Scotland's deputy first minister, as well as descendents of the land's ancestral owners.

It is not the first time this place has become a battle-ground. The Maxwell family seat for seven centuries, the land was gifted to the people of Glasgow in 1966. Since then, the beneficiaries have taken their custodianship seriously, fiercely contesting any development that might threaten this unique tract of urban wilderness.

The estate's former owners, meanwhile, have remained silent in the face of controversy, even as anti-motorway protesters camped out in the shrubbery. Now, with plans to create an aerial adventure course in North Wood igniting passions across the city, the Maxwell family have been moved to speak out. Donald Maxwell Macdonald, youngest son of Anne Maxwell Macdonald, who was raised on the estate and brokered the gift 10 years after her father Sir John's death, says he thinks a tree-top adventure centre is "a wonderful idea", in its place. "Pollok Park," he says, "is a place for walking in the woods, bird-watching and so on, not for swinging from trees."

Last week, his grandfather's gift was named Europe's Best Park. If it gets the green light, Suffolk-based company Go Ape plans to construct rope swings, tarzan swings and zip-slides up to 40 feet above the forest floor. It would, according to Glasgow City Council's website, allow participants "to experience the thrill of the forest from a unique, challenging and fun perspective".

More than 600 objections have been lodged, including warnings about noise, crowds and the complaint that: "At £20-25 a go it is commercialisation of public space and will interfere with a unique, wild habitat." Others argue that the seven-week consultation period, which ended on October 22, was inadequate.

After months of packed public meetings, heated debates and protests, both Glasgow City Council and Go Ape claim to be bemused by the uproar. Robert Booth, executive director of the council's planning committee, talks of an ideal opportunity to open the woods up to the whole community, especially the young and disenfranchised. "You might hear the zip wires and people laughing but it's a big park and the vast majority of the wood is under-used," he says. The consultation was widely advertised last year, he adds, pointing out that the council has no truck with "nimbyism".

Bill Fraser, a stalwart of the Save Pollok Park campaign, strenuously denies the "nimby" charge, arguing that "the haven" of North Wood must be protected from privatisation.

Back in 1994, plans to route the M77 extension through part of the estate sparked the establishment of a protest camp, cheekily titled Pollok Free State. Led by local visionary campaigner Colin McLeod and supported by anti-road protesters from across the world, the Free Staters were a thorn in the side of Scottish industry minister and Tory MP, Allan Stewart, who was seen holding a pick-axe in the company of protesters. He resigned, but the road went ahead.

Perhaps, says Colin McLeod's widow, Gehan, this latest dispute shows that while that battle was lost, the war over access to outdoor spaces has yet to be won.

Historically, Glasgow has set great store on parkland. Dr Andy Zieleniec, lecturer in geography and sociology at Keele University, points out that most of the city's parks were established during the Victorian era, thanks to tireless campaigners who persuaded authorities of the health benefits of green space. "The same arguments are being used by lobby groups like Greenspace today and are just as relevant," he says.

Yet as more and more green space is sold off, people are increasingly defensive of what is left. "There is a historical legacy at stake here," Zieleniec argues. "People associate meanings and values with places that they go to a regular basis. For many, their sense of belonging and identity is being undermined by creeping commercialism."

Andy Wightman, author of Who Owns Scotland, argues that the debate is "all about power".

"Politicians seem to have recognised that community ownership of assets can empower people in places like Gigha," he says. "But when it comes to urban areas they get confused and defensive."

Back in the woods, the debate continues to rage. The proposal will go to a planning committee vote within weeks, and because of the council's commercial interest, looks certain to be referred to the Scottish government.

Talks have finally opened with the NTS - custodians of the 1939 conservation agreement made by Sir John Stirling Maxwell - who will play a key role in arguing for the park's best interests. Property manager Robert Ferguson is aware of the need for diplomacy. "It is not for us to say who is right," he says. "But Pollok is an important place to the National Trust. Sir John Stirling Maxwell led by example, and we will follow. We can't and would not want to preserve North Wood in aspic, but the spirit should remain."

The Benefactors

In 1939, Sir John Stirling Maxwell, above, worried about the effects encroaching development might have on the future of Pollok estate, drew up an agreement with the National Trust to ensure that its consent was required for any changes made to the park.

In 1966, 10 years after Sir John's death, his daughter Anne Maxwell Macdonald, now 101 and living in Argyll, handed over her former home and 361 acres of land to Glasgow Corporation.

"My mother was attached to the place but she was a very practical person," says her son, Donald Maxwell Macdonald, 69.

The terms of the gift were carefully thought out. Along with the 1939 agreement, another minute, signed by all parties, stated that the land should remain "for ever for the benefit and enjoyment of the nation and in particular the citizens of Glasgow and that the open spaces and woodlands should remain for the enhancement of the beauty of the neighbourhood as well as for the benefit of the public".

"Sir John Stirling was very public-spirited," Margo Maxwell Macdonald says of her husband's grandfather. "He cared very much that people needed space and air."

That condition was closely scrutinised before an objection letter to Go Ape's proposals was lodged on the family's behalf earlier this year. It is not the first time the family has had concerns. In the 1990s it silently supported the National Trust's opposition to plans to route the M77 through the park, on the grounds that it would reduce the green belt.

"I personally thought the National Trust was wrong to agree in the end," Donald Maxwell Macdonald admits now, though he also confesses he was no fan of "those protestors up trees".

He still hopes the estate's woodland will remain intact. "It Go Ape is not what anyone has ever wanted for Pollok in that it is a commercial enterprise," he says. "This venture, as I see it, promoted by the City of Glasgow, is something they are going to make up to £80,000 on and that's the reason why they are so keen to do it.

"As far as I'm aware no other enterprises in the park are there to benefit a company in this way." Sports clubs merely pay for themselves, he says, while the NTS ploughs money raised back into conservation concerns. "It is not laughing all the way to the bank as it were, which is presumably what the Go Ape people and the city fathers are looking to do."

Glasgow City Council is playing a dangerous game, he argues. If they can drive a coach and horses through the 1966 agreement in this case, what next for Pollok Park? "They are basically saying that if you make a gift and lay down conditions on it, those can later be disregarded," he says. "That might just discourage people from making such gifts in the future."

The Protestors

At five months old, Luis is already a Pollok Park regular. Snuggled up in a cuddly bear suit, and strapped to his mother, Lusi Alderslowe, he kicks his legs contentedly as the family walk home to Govanhill through the woods. Neither he nor his two-year-old brother Robin understand why their parents are fighting the Go Ape proposals but, explains their father Danny - a Green councillor for Glasgow's Southside Central ward - this is about preserving the woodland not only for their generation, but those that follow.

A former Pollok Free Stater, Danny fondly recalls sleeping in a treehouse during the anti-M77 protests. "When you live in a tree you can't help but feel in touch with nature," he explains. "This park gave me something so I feel that it's important to pay that back."

His partner Lusi comes here to listen to the birds sing. "We need to leave that spot as it is so that we can remember what it's like to hear them," she says, adding that carefully managed activities are not the only way to enjoy nature. "North Wood is a space that allows you to be spontaneous," she explains. "You can pick up leaves or play with the pine cones, turn left or right, or go off the paths and wander between the trees. There are no rules."

The Supporter

When teacher Deirdre Hoyle heard about the planned adventure course, she thought: "Wow - I've been on one of those in France. It was fabulous." Used to sharing the wood with cyclists and dog walkers, she can't see what difference a few people swinging overhead would make. At a public meeting, she was one of just seven people to raise their hands in favour of Go Ape's proposals. She fears that opposition to the scheme reiterates the message that young people are not welcome. She remembers fruitlessly cajoling her own teenaged children to join her on trips to the park. Anything that takes them into the fresh air is great, she says. "It might just open up the idea that getting outdoors can be great fun."

The Bird-watchers

Leave the asphalt pathways behind, scramble through the trees deep into the forest and you enter another world. And for birdwatchers William Johannesen, James Wrigley, John Thomson and Robert Gregory, that is why North Wood is special. Here in the peaceful gloom, 10 minutes from their homes but a million miles from the daily grind, deer graze and sparrowhawks soar.

Johannesen and Wrigley first came here over 40 years ago as nine-year-olds, escaping the realities of the deprived housing schemes in which they were raised. A decade later, Thomson discovered it. "It felt unbelievable to me," he says, "like being in the middle of nowhere." Gregory, meanwhile, came here with his father, who instilled in him a love of nature. He dreams of the day when he brings his own children here.

"When my kids were young and we lived in Arden, my wife and I would bring the whole family here for picnics," says Johannesen. "It was our escape. We didn't have money to go on excursions here, there and everywhere."

Now Wrigley, Johannesen and Thomson, who are currently out of work, go exploring several times a week. They wait patiently to capture footage of a kingfisher, a cormorant or the sparrowhawk feeding its young. Gregory, who works as a panel-beater, joins them at weekends and relishes the solace it brings.

All oppose the Go Ape proposals, believing they would shatter this fragile piece of woodland, the last wild remnant of a park already pillaged. "It's scary what they've done to Pollok," says Wrigley. "This is the last unspoiled bit."

The zip wires would discourage the sparrowhawks from nesting, Johannesen worries, and gradually the diversity would be lost. As for equality of access: "When you look at the Go Ape website it says it's for all families. But at £20 a go the reality is only some parents will be able to bring their children here."

Instead, suggests Thomson, why not invest in park ranger tours, and bring young people here to see nature in its raw state? Johannesen nods. "Right now all the deprived kids can use this park the same as everybody else."

"We don't want to lose this," adds Wrigley, softly. "It's part of our identity."

The Developers

In 2001, Tristram Mayhew (above right) had just lined up his dream job in Barcelona as European head of communications for a large American company. The job came with a penthouse, a roof-top swimming pool and a generous remuneration package that would keep his wife, Rebecca (above left) , and new baby in style. He'd left his army post as a tank commander looking for new challenges like this. So why didn't he feel more excited?

Then, on holiday in France, he visited a forest park. And the idea for Go Ape was born. "We just followed the laughter through the woods and saw a family swinging from above us," he says. "It was Rebecca who verbalised it. She saw the look in their eyes and said: We should be doing this.'" Tristram, meanwhile, finally saw the chance to combine setting up a family business with something he felt was "fundamentally worthwhile".

"We wanted to do something which encouraged people to live as adventurously as possible," he says. "To move from the mindset of I can't' to yes I can'."

Brought up in Kent, he is passionate about giving young people the chance to explore the great outdoors. He enthuses about the importance of the woodland, about the conservation work in which Go Ape invests, about the donations the company makes to charities working in the Amazon. One of Go Ape's mottos, he points out, is: "Do the right thing."

So, Mayhew admits, it is difficult to accept the role of villain in the battle for Pollok Park's woodland. He blames much of the opposition on misunderstanding. "The first meeting in September went extremely well," he says. "Subsequently I think a huge amount of misinformation was persistently broadcast through the media, websites and forums.

"It was claimed 32 acres of land was being fenced off. That would have had me up in arms but it is completely wrong. There is no perimeter fence - we only use the treetops. People can walk underneath in the same way as ever, and actually only about three acres will have any visual impact at all."

He argues that people who are attracted to Go Ape principally because it is an adventure activity will be tempted back into the park on bikes or on foot. It will also, he says, make Glasgow City Council a decent amount of revenue that can be ploughed back into the park.

"But we wouldn't be proposing a site if we didn't think people wanted it," he says. "We are confident of our ability to attract 20,000-30,000 people from the Glasgow area. Why should the voices of the protestors be heard louder?"