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In the 1960s Glasgow faced concentrations of the greatest deprivation to be found in Britain and a pioneering renewal scheme was set up by the city and the Scottish Development Agency, providing small-scale environmental improvements and reversing long-term population decline in the centre.
However, it was only in the early 1980s that co-ordinated efforts really began to transform the centre. The ‘Glasgow (S)miles Better’ campaign and its designation as a European City of Culture boosted the city’s image, as did the Garden Festival. Physical improvement programmes and economic development goals have been brought together through the City securing the backing of the Glasgow Development Agency (GHDA), which is seeking to make Glasgow one of the great cities of Europe.
The GDA is a company limited by guarantee with a board of 12 members appointed by Scottish Enterprise. There is a management team of eight, covering corporate services, corporate development, finance and information technology, business development, property and environment, tourism and training. Each programme involves a series of funding from a range of sources. The total revenue in 1995 was £61 million,. Largely from public funds. It was invested in over 50 projects.
One of the most innovative projects is City Watch, aimed at improving the quality of the environment and security in the city centre, based on US Business Improvements Districts. The first phase installed 32 CCTV cameras in 1993, and 300 local businesses contributed over half the initial cost, ion a voluntary basis but linked to rateable value. The introduction of CCTV was combined with an assessment of lighting levels and crime prevention seminars run by the police.
The GDA employs 28 City Centre representatives drawn from long-term unemployed who provide supplementary help to city centre users, note unusable services and facilities and provide a rapid response clean-up service not currently covered by the statuary serves. The GDA hopes to persuade the new unitary authority to continue the scheme and extend it to other parts of the city centre.
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