There are potential difficulties for COP26 delegates as around 3,000 still “don’t have accommodation” and there is also a planned rail strike adding to more misery.
Accommodation is stretched as there is an estimated 30,000 people attending the COP26 conference in Glasgow city centre.
BBC’s Scotland Editor Sarah Smith warned the Radio 4’s Today programme that accommodation is stretched in the city.
The United Nations Climate Conference Change Conference, or COP26 for short, will also face issues as many delegates will not be able to commute there due to the rail strike.
Smith said, “There are other really significant problems within the city on top of a possible embarrassment if Glasgow is not looking as spruce as it might when all these world leaders arrive.
“30,000 people are expected to turn up for COP26.
“That is an enormous amount of people to try and put right in the middle of a city, not where you would normally have these kinds of conferences.
“3,000 people that are coming still don’t have accommodation.”
“We have got cruise liners parked on the Clyde being used as dormitories, gym halls and community centres being set up as emergency accommodation as well.”
She added, “With delegates staying all over the place, as far as Edinburgh and Sterling where they can get hotels and other kinds of accommodation.
“This means that a lot of people need to be coming into the city every day for the conference.
“This would be enough of a strain on the motorway network if it weren’t for the fact that there is a planned rail strike in the first week of this conference.
“If there are no trains running between Edinburgh and Glasgow and everyone is on the motorways the congestion could be insane.”
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