Council to investigate vape shop next to Mackintosh's Willow Tearooms
MSP Paul Sweeney says the Sauchiehall Street shop opened without listed building or conservation area consent.
Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney. · Photograph: Chris McAndrew (CC BY 3.0)
Glasgow City Council has opened a planning investigation into a vape shop that has opened next to the Mackintosh tearooms on Sauchiehall Street.
Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney said the council had confirmed a case officer would look into 219 Sauchiehall Street, after he raised concerns that the shop opened without the necessary listed building or conservation area consent.
Garnethill Community Council and the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society have also written to the council. The society says the shop increases the fire risk to the category A-listed 1903 building, pointing to the Union Street blaze in March, which was believed to have started in a vape shop.
The council said enforcement action is at its discretion and is only taken where there is clear and demonstrable harm in planning terms.
Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art was devastated by fires in 2014 and 2018.