Police probe cause of fire at Glasgow affordable homes tenement

ByCatherine Lyst

BBC Scotland

The cause of a fire that broke out at a newly-refurbished housing association tenement in Glasgow is under investigation, police have said.

The building in Stonyhurst Street, Possilpark - which was derelict for 20 years - had received £3m to be renovated as affordable homes.

Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney claimed the blaze was started deliberately on Sunday following "disinformation" that the flats would be used for asylum seekers.

Housing association NG Homes, which owns the block, dismissed the rumours and said the flats would provide "much-needed" homes for people on its waiting list.

The fire broke out in a fourth floor flat at about 16:50 on Sunday. No-one was injured.

Pictures on social media showed the building covered in scaffolding with flames emerging from the roof.

NG homes said the damage was still being assessed and it was too early to confirm the impact on the renovation timescales.

In a post on social media, Sweeney said it was "outrageous" that a refurbished building risked being destroyed by fire in a "socially-deprived community".

He said: "We secured nearly £3m in government investment to bring these tenements back and renovate them, so they can be used for the community in a city with a housing emergency.

"It was never going to illegal immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers - it was never intended for that purpose at all.

"So, anyone claiming that was spreading lies, misinformation, to generate clicks on social media, to whip up the community, wind people up and this is the upshot of it."

He later told BBC Scotland Radio's Lunchtime Live programme: "We've got a housing crisis in Glasgow.

"We desperately need to build our way out of that emergency and this was a key project to try to achieve that.

"Obviously the police and the fire service have to conduct official investigations but, from conversations I had on the street, there were witnesses who said they had seen someone scaling the scaffolding and then a fire materialised on the roof soon afterwards."

Sweeney believes the scaffolding had only been up a few days so the building work had not yet started.

He said the building had been the focus of protests in July, which he said had been "whipped up by local Facebook groups, speculating about the building being used for asylum seeker accommodation."

Sweeney said this had "provoked a significant picket and protest at the site".

He added: "In fact it was intended all along to be used for housing people who are on the local housing association's waiting list which is heavily oversubscribed."

Sweeney said that a solution to the housing policy issues in Glasgow needed to be found.

And he called for clear communication so that "these conspiracy theorists and malicious actors, particularly from the far right who have got a political agenda to whip this stuff up, are countered effectively".

Councillor Ruairi Kelly, Glasgow City Council's convener for housing and development, wrote: "If this was a deliberate arson attack, then all that these thugs and criminals have achieved is to extend the wait that local people will now have for the house moves they desperately need."

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said six fire engines and specialist resources had been sent to the blaze on Sunday.

Two appliances remained at the scene dampening down on Monday.

NG Homes was in the process of refurbishing and upgrading a number of buildings on the street.

A spokesperson said: "We are aware that disinformation has circulated regarding the future use of the homes and would once again stress that these claims are false.

"The buildings are being refurbished to provide much-needed affordable homes.

"These properties will be allocated in line with our allocations policy and Scottish housing legislation from our existing housing list.

"As a registered social landlord, we do not allocate housing to people who are not legally eligible for it."

First Minister John Swinney told BBC Scotland News he had "seen the rumours" circulating about the potential use of the flats for migrant accommodation.

He said: "If there is any wilful fireraising involved that's a criminal offence and anyone involved in such activity will have to be apprehended.

"It is completely and utterly unacceptable for any accommodation in any part of Scotland housing anybody to be targeted."

Glasgow City Council said that, working with NG Homes, more than 3,500 empty homes had been brought back to "productive use" in recent years.

It said grant funding for refurbishment came through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances."