332 Objections Stop the Bulldozers, For Now: A Glasgow Congregation’s Old Church Faces Demolition for Flats

• Wemyss Properties wants to demolish the B-listed 1883 Hillhead Baptist Church
• A 2020 permission kept the facade and included a church site; the new plan does not
• 332 objections have forced a public hearing
• The congregation has been meeting in a nearby hotel because of structural damage

Plans to knock down a 143-year-old Glasgow church and build flats in its place have been paused after hundreds of people objected, Premier Christian News reported on 22 April 2026. Hillhead Baptist Church, built in 1883 and B-listed, is owned by developer Wemyss Properties.

The site already has a history of planning changes. In 2020, permission was granted for flats together with a new church space, retaining the building’s historic facade. The developer has since dropped the church element and now proposes full demolition, replacing the building with flats only.

Wemyss Properties argues that keeping the church and its facade is not financially viable and says no other organisation was interested in buying the property; eight letters of support were lodged backing that case. The plans drew 332 objections, and a public hearing will now decide the building’s future. Ken Andrew, who chairs the planning applications committee, said “it is only fair we give this a proper hearing.”

The congregation itself is no longer in the building. Structural problems were identified as early as 2000, and Hillhead Baptist Church now meets in a nearby hotel.

The case illustrates a hard sequence many churches face: long-running structural defects, a costly listed building, a sale to a developer and then a fight over how much of the past must survive. Once a congregation has sold, it usually has little say in what follows.

For Jamaican congregations with historic buildings, and for diaspora churches in the UK, the lesson is to deal with structural problems early and to negotiate firm conditions before any sale. If a church wants a place in a redeveloped site, that promise needs to be written into the contract, not left to a planning permission that can be changed later.

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