A CONTROVERSIAL planning decision to stop cars parking near to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital has been overturned.

Private firm Ogilvie Group has now been granted permission to continue offering car parking on its Hardgate Road site.

An initial application was rejected in September after council officers said the car park would prevent a move towards public and sustainable transport.

But health workers union Unison and nearby residents criticised that call, saying parking on the hospital site was “woefully inadequate”.

Read more: Queen Elizabeth University Hospital parking plan sparks fury

Councillors on the planning review committee ruled in favour of Stirling-based Ogilvie Group.

Bailie Anne McTaggart said: “As much as we would like the hospital to be fully accessible and it would be great if no one needed to take cars, I’m aware that if you’re in Drumchapel you need to get two buses.

“If you’re ill or expecting a baby you don’t want to be on a bus. It would be better if we did have access but we don’t.

“This land was vacant for six years, there has been no application to do anything else with it. It’s serving a purpose.”

And councillor Robert Connelly said: “Bus companies are not providing a service they should be providing to a massive hospital which is meant to be serving the west of Scotland.

“There isn’t sustainable transport in that area. The car park right now is serving a purpose to alleviate on-street parking.”

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Permission was first granted on the site for a construction workers’ car park while the hospital was built. The Council then granted permission for a one-year extension on appeal in September 2016.

Ogilvie Group, which submitted this application in November 2017, will reduce the number of spaces from 772 to 350 to reflect current car park usage.