Wednesday May 13th 2026
Container at church in Govan (image: Glasgow City Council. Contained in planning documents)
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Sarah Hilley
A shipping container installed on Glasgow church grounds without permission has been allowed to stay in place.
Councillors agreed to overturn an original refusal of the structure in Govan at the Remnant Christian Network following a planning appeal lodged with the council.
The 44.9 square metre container was put on a lawn to house offices, a toilet and conference room – providing space for counselling and training.
Speaking at the local planning review committee yesterday, chair Ken Andrew said: “An erection has been put up without planning permission. However although there are some issues around this and some information that is not quite correct I’m minded to grant this”.
He added: “I think it is a relatively small church and it looks like they are just trying to give themselves a bit of meeting room space to support the activities of the church.
“I can’t imagine it will be particularly noisy – it is not a huge room anyway.”
Councillor Andrew added that cycle parking should be added as a condition, which was agreed.
Planning officials had raised issues about the container failing to make a positive contribution to visual amenity at Govan Road among other concerns.
Councillor Martha Wardrop disagreed with the decision to grant an appeal but did not receive any backing.
She said: “This design is not helpful to the local community. They have put it on a green space that has never been built on.”
Councillor Wardrop continued: “It is an attractive space that should be protected. They have provided no information about the number of people, there is no noise impact assessment.They haven’t considered sustainability at all in any of the information.”
Councillors overturned the refusal and permission was granted subject to conditions.
An appeal from Mercy Alison, Remnant Christian Network, said there were no objections over the structure and the “visual presence of the modular unit will be limited and well screened”.
The appeal added: “On balance, the modest and flexible character of the structure is far outweighed by the substantial contribution it will make to community wellbeing and the long-term resilience of the local area,” according to a council report.
A council planning report added that the container sits on a grass lawn and “is immediately visible and obscures views of the original building”.
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