A charity’s plans for a community centre in the north east of Glasgow are a “shining example” of how a council scheme to empower city residents can work, it has been claimed.
Hundreds of people attended a recent open day held at Molendinar Community Centre by St Paul’s Youth Forum, which is now managing the council-owned venue.
“I personally flipped 400 burgers,” said Neil Young from the charity, before adding: “A telling sign of what happened was at the very end of the day.
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“At time to close up, half the community stayed to sweep the floor and to empty the bins.”
St Paul’s is running the community centre under the People Make Glasgow Communities [PMGC] programme, which was set up to give community and third sector groups an opportunity to take on council-owned venues in their area.
The aim, according to Cllr Kelly, is to empower Glasgow’s communities. After listening to Neil, it appears the programme’s goal is being reached in Blackhill.
He said the local attitude is: “This is our community centre, this is our place, so we are going to be invested in this.”
“It has got that homely feeling,” he added. “I think it’s created a real sense of ownership, we’ve got this chance to make it work.”
And while he said “everybody wants this to work”, the council’s support means “if it doesn’t, it’s not going to sink our organisation”.
Molendinar Community Centre, on Royston Road, was one of many council-owned venues, most managed by Glasgow Life, which had to close at the start of the covid pandemic.
Financial pressures on the council meant it stayed shut when lockdown restrictions were lifted. “It wasn't possible to open them all back up straight away,” Cllr Kelly said, adding that the pandemic had given the council “impetus” to set up the programme.
“I think there was a bit of trepidation and hesitation at the start because it was done somewhat out of necessity as well,” he said.
“This was Glasgow’s way of dealing with our requirements through the Community Empowerment Act, but it also happened at the time covid happened and everything was closed.”
Deals have happened “fast in terms of how the public sector moves”, he added. “There is that element of it might not succeed but I think people are willing to take that risk.
“The risk of not doing it is just that nothing happens and that’s a much bigger risk to all communities than trying something, working with organisations, empowering local people.”
Cllr Kelly said there is an opportunity to “if we are being honest, deliver a better service than there would have previously been” as Glasgow Life had to concentrate on “100 odd venues”. Local groups have a “primary focus and are much closer to the community in terms of what the specific needs are,” he said.
St Paul’s Youth Forum, formed by youth workers in 1997, operates in Blackhill, which ranks among the most deprived areas in Scotland. The charity focuses on four goals: exercise, eating, education and empowerment.
Neil said initially his organisation would “never have wanted a lease on this building because of the responsibilities of that”. However, the “beauty of the PMGC model is it is one where hands are held”, he said.
“It is about everybody succeeding rather than just ‘there you go, go and deal with it, we don’t want anything to do with this’. That support that we’ve had from the council has been second to none.”
The council’s experience of running facilities for so many years has been invaluable, Neil explained, helping the charity with issues such as health and safety protocols and business plans.
It was hoped the PMGC programme would benefit facilities as charities could bid to funding pots which weren’t open to the council. Money has already been secured by St Paul’s, with further opportunities being explored.
“We’ve got almost double the staff that Glasgow Life had in here because we’ve been able to attract that extra funding,” Neil said.
A cafe in the centre will be available as a training venue for children studying hospitality at school, Neil said. “Kids will learn the front of house, they’ll learn about the finances and then in the evenings young people from our organisation will volunteer.”
St Paul’s works to provide “dignified approaches” to food insecurity. Neil said: “The cafe is going to be like your granny’s house. There’s always a free cup of tea, there’s always a pot of soup on the go.”
He said families who might not have “the financial wherewithal to take their kids to a cafe” will be able to use the cafe. Children can “get a cup of juice and some soup, and sit with your pals”.
Families can also pay “a couple of pounds a week” towards a birthday party for children. “You don’t pay on the month of Christmas and the month of the birthday,” Neil said. “What you get is a big bouncy castle, a sound system, a cake.”
It is being set up to help parents who might struggle to afford a party otherwise, with work ongoing alongside Carntyne Credit Union. “These are things that the council family weren’t able to do because of restrictions and regulations,” Neil explained.
Glasgow Kelvin College will be using the IT suite while karate, dance, fitness and gymnastic classes are held in the sports hall. Council funding has allowed the charity to provide dancing for free on a Thursday night.
Neil said a closed centre shows “an area of decline” and makes the community feel like it is “not worth anything”. “The council can’t open this on their own, 2e can’t open this on our own but together let’s make that work.”
Cllr Kelly said the PMGC process has made community takeovers “a lot less complicated and daunting”. There have been around 600 expressions of interest from groups for venues across the city.
Julia Lapthorn, an officer working on the programme, said while not all the organisations will take on facilities, many are benefiting from working with the council and may become tenants.
When the scheme was announced, concerns were raised, including from trade unions, about venues being offloaded onto community groups by the council.
Cllr Kelly said many buildings wouldn’t be able to open without the programme. “It’s somebody else takes it on and works with us or it doesn’t really open,” he added. “It sits vacant until the financial picture looks better, and who knows when that’s going to be?”
There are terms and conditions to protect the public interest, he said, and the council is looking at “long-term leases rather than full asset transfer because it means that then the council is that last resort”. “If everything goes pear shaped, it returns to council ownership.”
He concluded: “What’s happening in Blackhill now is really a shining example of community empowerment to not only Glasgow but to the wider country. This is only one example of what’s going on here.”
Other projects include plans for an “urban farm”, where council-owned land will be turned into a community food growing space. St Paul’s will also be working with Golf It!, a new golfing experience at Hogganfield, to provide activities for young people.
Neil said: “If we work together, speak to the right people and come up with the right plans and robust business models, we can make a substantial change in our community.”
