Glasgow community calls on Joe Biden to support campaign against Starbucks and Burger King development

Frank McNab, the acting chair of Thornwood Community Council has made the bold move of asking for the White House’s support to oppose a Starbucks and Burger King drive-thru restaurant at the Thornwood Roundabout near the Clydeside Expressway in the West End.

According to Frank, 40 mature trees have been chopped down at the Thornwood Roundabout to make way for the development which he argues “completely goes against” the ethos of COP26, set to take place in the city next month.

He said: “Thornwood Community Council is on the war path against this development. It completely goes against the policies that the conference will discuss.

“Glasgow is the city with the most fast food outlets in the United Kingdom. This development goes against the aims of COP26.”

Frank is looking for more creative ways to fight against the building work and thought writing to Joe Biden might raise international awareness of the area’s community council’s plight.

It is believed President Biden’s motorcade will pass by the roundabout on his way to the conference and Frank is confident that the president will meet with him to discuss the environmental impact the drive thru could have on the area. He added: “I went and looked up how to contact Biden, how to address him properly and I used the form on the White House website.

“I wrote to him with concerns that this fast food station at one of the busiest roundabouts in our city should be being built at a time when President Biden and other world leaders are attending COP26.”

The UN Climate Conference will take place between October 31 and November 2 in Glasgow and will aim to reach a worldwide agreement on tackling climate change and global warming.

World leaders, thousands of delegates and protestors are set to descend on the city. Frank added: “If we had his support, we would make the effort to re-green it and re-name the area ‘Biden Park.’ “I am sure President Biden will see immediately that this destruction of our community’s green space is what COP26 is trying to prevent.”

Frank believes the new outlets will have a huge impact on the community. He said: “We don’t want kids thinking that the best thing to do is to go along to a fast food restaurant and eat a burger out of a polystyrene container.”

“We’ve got new cafes - they’re not very happy about it. Our cafe culture has blossomed and burgeoned but that’s going to get stuffed.”

The community council will also be writing to the city council asking them to look again at the proposal which it is understood, has not yet come up at the planning committee.

However, work on the development, close to the Clydeside Expressway in the West End, has already began with fences up and materials placed at the site. Developers are currently clearing the area.

The West End community has “unified” in opposition to the plans. An organisation called “Love Thornwood” has been created as a result and Frank said that people are taking a more active interest in the area.

He said: “The community has re-acted very strongly to this development. There’s a group called Love Thornwood in response to this.

"They’ve got over 300 members unifying the local community and the community council are having meetings again.”

Frank added: “Other things are starting to happen now because we can talk about community gardens and re-greening areas and doing our own thing to help the environment. We see there is a problem, and we want to do something to fix it.”

An initial application was lodged which was approved in 2020 which the developer has added changes to. This is awaiting approval.

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “Any objections received as part of statutory consultation are taken into consideration while determining applications.”