More than £10 million has been set aside by the Scottish Government to support recovery efforts following the devastating Union Street fire in Glasgow. The blaze broke out in a vape shop on the corner of Union Street and Gordon Street on March 8, in a building directly connected to Glasgow Central Station.
The fire caused part of the building to collapse and led to major disruption at Scotland’s busiest railway station, with services affected for several weeks. Following a structural assessment, Glasgow City Council confirmed the remaining section of the building would be demolished on public safety grounds.
At Thursday’s city administration committee meeting, councillors heard that £800,000 in grants awarded to businesses impacted by the fire had been funded through the council’s capital programme. Councillor Martha Wardrop sought clarification on how recovery funding was being managed.
View 2 ImagesCentral Station was closed due to a major fire and explosion at a building on nearby Union Street(Image: Getty)
She said: “I have a question about the Union Street fire recovery and the funding of that. It is referred to in section 12 but I would like to clarify how that is being organised. It refers to revenue and capital funding and money then being reimbursed from the Scottish Government.
“How is that being accounted for? Is there a separate report to be presented on it?” A council officer told the committee that Scottish Government support would continue into the next financial year.
They said: “The Scottish Government has provided support in the form of £1 million of capital towards the clean-up operation and £10 million of revenue towards the economic recovery from the event. In practical terms, what the report demonstrates is the amount we have spent on economic recovery in the last financial year and we will manage the finances across the year.
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“We can’t accrue the Scottish Government grant, so we have used some of the money in this year on the basis we will get a grant coming the next year.”
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