Paisley will never have the squeaky-clean image of a picture postcard Swiss alpine town, but there’s always space for improvement, especially where it matters, such as high-visibility locations.

I would like to know is why some of these eye-sores still exist, and are tolerated.

EXAMPLE 1: INCLE STREET
Over 10,000 cars a day use Incle Street, as part of Paisley’s ‘ring road’. You drive westbound past St Mirin’s Cathedral under the railway bridge and onto Old Sneddon Street. The burnt out tenement was scheduled for demolition some time ago, but still remains a nasty welcome to motorists in Paisley, and indeed passengers on trains from Glasgow. I continually hear comments, as train roll into Gilmour Street, about the sight of this ugly building. Does anyone know anything about the immediate future of this building? Is it red tape delaying it’s demolition, or is down to a lack of funding?

Across the road is a small building, which is part of the railway viaduct, next to the Elma Whyte School of Dancing. This horrible building was highlighted in a Paisley2020.org blog last summer. We contacted Network Rail at Buchanan House, as to their plans for this property (if any), and whether they would consider renting this pigeon-infested shell to a budding entrepreneur for a token rent. They declined to reply. Why is this high-visibility location allowed to remain abandoned? Welcome to Paisley!

EXAMPLE 2: 13 MOSS STREET
Don’t get me started on this property! Any regular shopper in Paisley knows about this building. Surely there must be some responsibility with the owner of a prime retail building, to have it’s condition up to scratch? It not only lowers the image, and probably value, of surrounding buildings, but seriously affects the top end of Moss Street in general. Would you rent a shop, if the adjacent unit was a ruin? I scrubbed my way through the grime on the front window recently and peered in. It was horrific. It is a pigeon graveyard. One dead bird had decomposed so much, its skeleton was visible. Its ugly, rotting, damp-ridden exterior hides a disgusting and probably dangerous and unhealthy interior. It has been said pedestrians see only the bottom 12-15 feet of a building, so let’s see some action on this site, even if it’s superficial. I spoke to a senior staff member at the adjacent St Vincents Hospice shop. She said there were no dampness or vermin issues in her shop, but was surprised at hearing of the state of the empty unit's interior, and couldn't understand why this was allowed.

UPDATE: Despite the horrors of this shop's interiors, a week after publishing this blog, there was work done to the interior of the shop, and it opened temporarily as a fireworks shop. The owner of Kyvas Boutique, next door at 15 Moss Street, mentioned dampness in the property, probably not helped by the empty shell at number 13.

UPDATE: wATCH THIS SPACE

EXAMPLE 3: 40 HIGH STREET
What on earth is going on with this building? Back in January 2008, the first floor frontage was blown off during a gale. The owner was keen to have the damage repaired, but, according to one source, was confronted with too much bureaucracy from Renfrewshire Council, requiring excessive planning permission to block the pavement off, or to repair the damage. The result was inaction by the owner. According to Taz Hussain, the owner of Taz's Newsagents, located below , the temporary work was done shortly afterwards, and has remained there ever since. Taz mentions there is some water entering his shop, when there are high winds combined with heavy rain.

If Renfrewshire Council has indeed made repaid work difficult, due to red tape, then they need to allow this work to be fast-tracked.

When it comes to retail locations in Paisley, which are not ‘up to scratch’ and are compromising the image of our town, I believe firm action is required. Otherwise it can dilute the good work Renfrewshire Council, PVB and others are doing. Surely there is a corporate responsibility to ensure a high-visibility street location is maintained, and can this not be enforced by Renfrewshire Council? I believe there should be a policy of ‘if you abuse it, and mis-use it, you lose it’. If you can’t look after a property, then give it to someone who can. We are a nation of shop-keepers, and there will always be an entrepreneur willing to take over responsibility of what you can’t manage.

UPDATE: wATCH THIS SPACE

EXAMPLE 4: PAISLEY PIAZZA CAR PARK EXTERIOR

When was the exterior of this structure last given a lick of paint? The banner advertising office space is drooping and starting to look faded, and the kids who sprayed the graffiti have probably grown up and now have kids of their own. After the burnt-out tenement on Incle Street, this is the next thing visitors from Glasgow see when arriving from Glasgow. The problem with painting concrete is that it needs a fresh coat from time-to-time. With the ‘new’, adjacent Paisley Gilmour Street station being unveiled by the New Year, I hope a new paint-job is on the agenda with Paisley Piazza management.

We all need to do our bit to keep Paisley beautiful – not just interested buddies, but corporate organisations and investors as well. Nothing is impossible. If you can’t do it yourself, you just have to find the right person to do it.

 
© Paisley2020 | site map |