Locals overwhelmingly back community ownership

Culture and Sport Glasgow today (April 1st)  handed over the keys of Cadder Community Centre to local people. It follows a passionate campaign by the community to fight against the Labour Council's closure plans. It led to several local organisations joining the campaign including Cadder Housing Association, the local Credit Union and several let holders including a hugely successful youth club and elderly forum.

The community were supported in their attempts to fend off closure by a number of politicians including SNP MSP Bob Doris who conducted an extensive parliamentary consultation to look at the prospect of community ownership of the facility.

Hundreds of constituents responded to that survey with unanimous support for the Community Centre. 100% of respondents disagreed with the City Council's closure plans and believed that the Centre was a vital facility. Other findings showed that almost 100% of locals disagreed with the Council closing a local primary school St Agnes' last year, and that the closure of the primary school had made the local area worse.

When asked whether both the site of the former St Agnes' school and the Community Centre itself should be 'given to the community to be run for the benefit of the community', 100% of respondents wholeheartedly agreed. The community steering group, led by the Housing Association and Credit Union will now take control of the Community Centre and hope to get some money from the local Area Committee of the Council to help with some running costs.

However the Council will not provide any of the caretaking staff that are currently deployed by Culture and Sport and the community steering committee are looking for volunteers to be 'key holders' to assist in the running of the Centre. The Council's Local Area Committee has stepped in to provide £14,000 as an interim measure to support the Centre. This short term cash whilst welcome moves the funding of the community centre from core funding by Glasgow City Council and to discretionary funding from the Area Committee and means £14,000 less to be spent locally on other initiatives and represents overall reinvestment from the local area.

SNP MSP Bob Doris said: "Clearly the strong local campaign has had an impact and it has been a privilege to be part of it. My consultation results provide clear evidence of the huge support and affection there is for the community centre and just how much it would damage the local area if it was to close.

" Any closure, hot on the heels of Glasgow City Council closing a local primary school, would have been a devastating blow to the area.

"Having spoken over the weekend to locals in Cadder it is clear they are not saying 'thank you' to the Labour council for handing over the keys, they are saying 'just as well'.

" The Council is still withdrawing tens of thousands of pounds on investment from the local area and have put a vital community facility at risk. I am sure though that the local community can use the next 6 months to secure a long term future of the centre and show that they can do a better job than the City Council.

"With the Labour Party admitting they are now going to implement cuts to Scotland  that are worse than the Tories did under Thatcher I am sure there will be many more examples of communities having to step up to the plate. However community management and even eventual ownership is not a substitute for properly funded community facilities and I would urge the Council to provide additional financial support.

"I will now be writing to all those that took part in the my consultation to thank them and to encourage them to consider volunteering their services to help the community centre".

Note:

Cadder Community Centre Parliamentary Consultation

206 returns so far…..

1. Do you agree with Glasgow City Council's decision to close the Cadder Centre by the end of March 2010? Yes 0 / No 205

2. Do you think that the Cadder Centre is an important facility for Cadder? Yes 206 / No 0

3. What effect will the closure of the Cadder Centre have on the local area? Make it worse 202 / No difference 2 / Make it better 1

4. Did you agree with Glasgow City Council's decision to close St Agnes' Primary? Yes 13 / No 189

5. What effect has the closure of St Agnes' school had on the local area? Made it worse 203 / No difference 2 / Made it better 0

6. Do you believe the community should have a say in the future use of the Cadder Centre building? Yes 206 / No 0

7. Do you support keeping the Cadder Centre open? Yes 205 / No 0

8. Do you support the idea of the Cadder Centre/St Agnes School buildings being given to the community to be run for the benefit of the community? Yes 206 / No 0

9. Have you or a friend used the Cadder Community Centre in the last year? Yes 204 / No 0

Please use this space to add any further comments Some examples below- lots of pensioners use this centre

This area has nothing else, if this goes it will be a wasteland

My kids use this centre, they will have nowhere to go if it closes.