Community organisations set to be given extra funding by local authorities

Community organisations struggling to manage council owned buildings will be given at least one year of support from the local authority while they look for funding methods, it has been revealed.

It comes as new reports show Glasgow’s programme to give grassroots organisations more control over the council’s venues and assets has attracted almost 600 expressions of interest since its launch two years ago. People Make Glasgow Communities (PMGC) gives groups the opportunity to meet the needs in their neighbourhoods through the running of sports, education and community venues through to parkland and open spaces.

Launched in February 2021, there have been 585 expressions of interest submitted since then. As it stands, 14 organisations have successfully progressed into the development phase of the process, with occupation agreements finalised prior to commencing management of venue.

Eight of these are now successfully operating venues, with the remaining six working with council officers on funding applications and legal agreements. Examples of the success of PMGC include Park Villa at Glasgow Club Drumoyne, South Seeds at The Old Queen’s Park Changing Rooms, St Paul’s Youth Project at Molendinar Community Centre, and Newlands Park Tennis Courts.

An update was brought before the environment committee yesterday where Labour councillor Jill Pidgeon asked if any groups taking part in the PMGC scheme had faced difficulties. Councillor Jill Pidgeon said: “Organisations who have taken possession to date, have any of them suffered because of the financial burden that has been placed on them? Have any of the applications to manage the venue, because of the sort of financial burden, not been progressed? Are you able to give figures around that on how many organisations have not been able to go ahead?”

A council officer confirmed that there were a number of organisations that found it difficult to manage the facility themselves and were provided an information pack by the council. They said: “This has details of the condition of the building and also running costs. We work through with the organisation to provide a lot of transparency on what actually is involved in terms of management of the facility. There have been a few organisations, especially around community centres, that are experiencing challenges to generate sufficient income to cover the costs in relation to maintenance. We are putting in place this interim arrangement so that they have a year working with us on funding applications for revenue funding so they can take on a longer term arrangement.”

Councillors have been made aware that a further 30 organisations are now in the “engagement phase” of the process, where they are undertaking community consultations on their proposals and are working on a detailed application with a business plan. An additional 30 organisations are currently working with officers on their initial proposals for a specific venue.

Councillor Ruairi Kelly, Convener for Neighbourhoods Services and Assets at Glasgow City Council, said: “People Make Glasgow Communities is all about transferring power and control to our communities and changing places and people’s lives for the better. We’ve seen how successful community empowerment has been in rural Scotland and it’s now taking hold in our biggest city. Many of those who have either already had buildings or land transferred, or are in the process of doing so, have deep roots in their communities. And this partnership has allowed several of these organisations to attract new sources of funding and develop more capacity and essential skills.There is still much work to do and lessons to be learned. And of course, we’re mindful of the challenges which can make asset management by local organisations difficult. However, the evidence from PMGC so far is that Glasgow’s communities really want to make the most of local assets.”