East End sports centre could be re-opened after letting building to sports partnership

Glasgow City Council is considering letting the sports centre to the Easterhouse Community Sports Hub Partnership, which is made up of: Basketball Scotland, the Phoenix Centre and Easterhouse Community Sports Hub.

The deal would be progressed through the People Make Glasgow Communities programme, a scheme which the council claims gives local people and groups a “greater involvement in the management of local venues”.

The sports centre is being used as a vaccination centre until March 2023.

Cllr Ruairi Kelly, convener for neighbourhood assets, who represents Easterhouse, said: “The plan put forward by the partnership and the experience of the members involved fills me with confidence that better days are indeed ahead for Easterhouse Sports Centre.

“Supporting community organisations to take a lead on the management of local assets has enabled greater investment and better service delivery for local people and I look forward to working with the partnership to deliver for the people of Easterhouse.”

Easterhouse Sports Centre, which was built in 1990, includes two sports halls, a meeting room, changing facilities, toilets, gym and office spaces. It is currently run by Glasgow Life, which manages sports and cultural facilities for the council.

Council officials have reported the partners interested in taking over the venue have “experience in delivering a programme of sporting activities and facilities management”.

“Easterhouse Community Sports Hub and the Phoenix Centre have been active in the vicinity for over a decade, delivering a range of services aimed at improving the physical and mental well-being of young people through sport, music and arts,” the report added.

The council believes the three organisations are “passionate about providing access to sport and physical activity in the Easterhouse community” and have “a proven record of doing so in other local venues”.

Over 500 people, including councillors and local schools, have taken part in community engagement carried out by the partnership and feedback is reported to have been “overwhelmingly positive and showed a demand for the proposal”.

The council report added Basketball Scotland has previously been involved in reopening the Crags Centre, a disused leisure centre in Edinburgh, which has been “a self sustaining operation for over a decade”.

It continued: “Where there is low demand for community activity, ESCHP will seek to fill the facility with other income generating activities which will help to subsidise low cost activities in the centre.

“All activities delivered by the ESCHP will have low cost or fully subsidised opportunities for some or all participants. This ensures that the sports centre will remain a community venue and that everyone will have the opportunity to use the facility.”

Councillors had been recommended to approve beginning talks over a deal at a meeting on Thursday but it is not expected to go ahead following the death of the Queen. The matter will be considered at a future meeting of the council’s contracts and property committee.