GLASGOW Chamber of Commerce is predicting a bright future for the city in 2022 if it can leave the constraints of coronavirus behind including the homeworking default which its chief executive claims is a “middle-class benefit”.

Stuart Patrick told yesterday’s Go Radio Business Show with Hunter & Haughey that if Glasgow is to see a full recovery from the pandemic this year there must be one big change.

“Our response to coronavirus must evolve from crisis, lockdown restrictions and mitigations to the endemic state that means living with the virus and is now being much more actively discussed,” he said.

An upbeat Mr Patrick told show host Donald Martin, the editor of The Herald and The Herald on Sunday, that this year “must see an end to the travel restrictions that are throttling our tourism and aviation industries”.

Pointing to the “homeworking default that is undermining our city centre and the social distancing measures that have so damaged our hospitality, cultural and sporting sectors”, he said: “If the evidence continues to grow that the health service is coping fine with the consequences of the Omicron variant, surely it becomes much harder to justify imposing restrictions that cause so much economic harm.”

Mr Patrick added: “The future for Glasgow could be so much brighter if we could leave the coronavirus crisis behind.”

Suggesting there was a reluctance from some companies to say that homeworking “isn’t working for us”, he stated: “Maybe it is about time to call homeworking what it is – it’s a middle-class benefit, it is a perk.”

Referring to the reopening of the city’s prestigious Burrell Collection in the spring, Mr Patrick said: “Welcoming an old friend back after five years of restoration is a great boost to the city.”

He also spoke positively about the development of the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) with plans for a major £180 million expansion of its facilities based around a vision to create a global event campus capable of accommodating the world’s top conferences, exhibitions and events. “Our airport, hotel industry and battered hospitality industry will all celebrate this,” said Mr Patrick.

Another boost to Glasgow would be the addition of a city metro system and rail link to the airport. “Glasgow Chamber of Commerce has long fought for a railway link for the airport to the city centre and we fervently hope that a light rail link is included in the metro plan,” he said.

COP26, the global climate summit hosted by Glasgow last November, had shone a spotlight on the city’s capabilities to host large events, Mr Patrick noted.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government is currently reviewing Scottish transport priorities and Mr Patrick said he hoped that a Glasgow Metro is “firmly at the top of the list”.

Furthermore, he noted, a region-wide light rail network would match facilities in other cities across Europe as well as benefiting the new National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) headquarters, operated by the University of Strathclyde, and the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, both of which are on course to complete construction this year and are adjacent to Glasgow Airport.

The climate change emergency, Mr Patrick added, had changed the debate around public transport and highlighted the need to make changes sooner rather than later.

Looking beyond 2022, Mr Patrick highlighted two high-profile sporting events – the UCI Cycling World Championships in 2023 and the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships at the city’s Emirates Arena in the east end.

Both events, he said, provide “more evidence of the east end’s role in the city’s future”.