[SunGlasses]

Promise to end misery of slums [IMG]http://images.newsquest.co.uk/image.php?id=1062655&type=full[/IMGCouncil leader Steven Purcell, far left and top, was shocked by the housing conditions he found during his visit to Govanhill, where MP Mohammad Sarwar, above, said both central and local government had previously passed the buck over the issue.
Pictures: Mark Gibson

GLASGOW today launched an action plan to take slum flats from rogue landlords and make them fit to live in.
City council leader Steven Purcell pledged £2million to kickstart the programme.
And he set up a task force - led by environmental services director Robert Booth - to establish what the council must do to improve appalling housing conditions endured by hundreds of families in Govanhill.
The announcement came after Mr Purcell saw the conditions for himself.
He visited a two-bedroom flat lived in by an extended family of 20. Their home, which costs £400 a month, is infested with cockroaches, has no access to hot running water and has a dilapidated gas heater surrounded by electric fires.
The task force will come up with a detailed plan to tackle such problems by next April.
But before then, work has already begun to force landlords to repair their properties or risk losing them to the local housing association.
Officials have started the lengthy legal process to force owners of the worst flats in the area to sell up and politicians are calling on the Scottish Government to speed the arrival of new powers to further tackle rogue landlords.
Mr Purcell met officials, campaigners and Govanhill residents at a meeting organised by Anas Sarwar, son of the Govan MP Mohammad.
The MP said: "We have to end the practice where the Scottish government says it is the council's responsibility and the council says it is up to the government. Somebody has to take responsibility and start making a change."
Mr Purcell said: "The buck stops with me and I am making that personal commitment."
The council will put up £2m in next year's budget to transform three slum closes in Westmoreland Street, dubbed "Ground Zero" by residents.
Mr Purcell said locals doubted the council would address the area's problems.
But he insisted: "We can prove that you can solve these issues of overcrowding and the standard of housing people are living in.





"If people see that there is a solution they will buy into it.
"I am prepared to look at compulsory purchase orders to tackle these landlords. If we don't do it properly then we fail at the first hurdle."
Mr Purcell said a housing act passed in 2006 provided for greater powers to remove homes from owners who neglected them but that these powers have still not been granted.
He said: "That is the stumbling block to us advancing at a strategic level."The money on the table will do something to start improvements but if we want to get the whole area into a programme we need government support."
Anne Lear, director of Govanhill Housing Association which will carry out work when homes are taken over, said: "We are delighted that the city council is supporting the regeneration of the area."
Committee member Harry Rooney lives in a flat improved by the association and said that deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon wanted to hear locals' views.
He said: "This is the first step to getting tenement improvement back on the road, and we hope to see the Scottish Government coming in and supporting this council commitment. Nicola Sturgeon has already agreed she will meet people in the area.
"There are still 750 flats in the area which need to be brought up to an acceptable standard.
"I love living in this area and I want to see the area improve with the involvement of the whole community."
The council is taking advice from leading housing lawyer Mike Dailly who is setting up the Govanhill Law Centre to help prevent exploitation of vulnerable communities.
After seeing the problems for himself, Mr Purcell said he would not wait for legal changes to start moves to improve properties and said his officials would look at issuing more repair notices forcing landlords to carry out essential work or have it done by the council at their expense .
The councillor grew up in Yoker's infamous Langholm Street but said the conditions he saw yesterday were the worst he had encountered.
He added: "If we needed any proof of the urgent need for regeneration here, this is it.
"There has to be decisive action to get decent homes for people in Glasgow. And the work begins as soon as I get back to the City Chambers."

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