NEWS RELEASE

 Supermarket for Castlemilk raised with the United Nations 

A Castlemilk community group has taken their fight to secure a supermarket for their area to the United Nations.

The Castlemilk Housing and Human Rights Lived Experience Board, based on the southside of Glasgow, have been battling for a supermarket to serve their 14,000 strong community for more than six years. 

The Board was set up by Ardenglen, Craigdale, Cassiltoun and North View Housing Associations to promote housing as a human right and what that means for people’s everyday lives living in the area. 

Now they have presented their case for access to affordable food to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva, three years after Glasgow City Council told residents to expect an imminent announcement of a ‘household name’ supermarket for Castlemilk.

This followed the awarding of money from the Council to progress the building of a supermarket in Castlemilk. So far however, there is still no sign of progress. The right to good quality, affordable food is set out in Article 11 of the UN Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Chair of the Lived Experience Board, Anna Stuart said:

‘We are pleased the Committee acknowledges the increasing food insecurity and limited access to affordable and nutritious food, which disproportionately affect low-income households.  We welcome the Committee’s recommendation that the government adopts a comprehensive national strategy for the protection and promotion of the right to adequate food to reduce reliance on food banks, set clear, time-bound targets and establish appropriate mechanisms to assess progress.

‘We were extremely grateful for the opportunity to present our own experiences of lack of access to affordable food in Castlemilk.’ 

The Group also raised the issue of homelessness with the Committee, the need to build more social housing and the lack of funding for aids and adaptations to enable people to live in their own home for longer. 

All the issues raised by the Castlemilk Lived Experience Board were of covered in the Committee’s Concluding Observations.

ends

Picture shows: The Castlemilk Lived Experience Group during their presentation to the United Nations UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Notes to editors:

General observations made by the Committee regarding housing and provision of affordable food.

•      Need to make progress on incorporating economic, social and cultural rights through the adoption of a Human Rights Bill, which includes the enforceable right to housing.

•      Take all necessary measures to ensure the availability of affordable and social housing units by streamlining planning regulations, prioritising funding for new construction,         

rehabilitating substandard housing, and ensuring accessibility for disadvantaged groups—in particular persons with disabilities.

•      Enhance government’s decarbonisation policy on dwelling stock,

•      Increase the budget allocated for food programmes, social security, housing, health, education, employment services and other areas related to Covenant rights.

•      Step up measures to ensure that everyone has access to affordable electricity, gas, water, sanitation, and heating, as well as clothing. 

•      Adopt a more efficient, progressive, and socially just fiscal policy by ending the income tax thresholds freeze introduced since 2022,

•      Establish a legal framework requiring business to conduct human rights due diligence and update its National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights

•      The Committee acknowledges several measures taken to provide for food and the necessary resources to ensure food security. However, it remains concerned that significant challenges remain, including increasing food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty and limited access to affordable and nutritious food, which disproportionately affect low-income households, in particular families with children (art. 11).

•      The Committee recalls its general comment No. 12 (1999) on the right to adequate food, also recalls the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realisation of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security and recommends that the State party, along with the devolved governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales: