Newhousingdevelopment threatenscommunityhub
Organisers in fight to keep young people off streets
A LIFE-LINE community group is being forced out of their Glasgow hub to make way for a housing development.
The Garthamlock Community Group – who run a food bank and the only youth groups in the area – are fighting plans to evict them from their premises in a row of shops at Barholm Square.
From the well-used base – known locally as the community shop – they host money advice, education, IT services and act as all hours drop in for vulnerable local people.
But the land the shop sits on, surrounded by more than a thousand recently build homes, is now wanted for housing too.
The group currently rent the community shop for £50.40 a month from City Building, a Glasgow City Council arms length organisation.
But they have now been told by the landlords that the building must be vacated by April 27 after an agreement was reached to transfer the ownership of the land to Persimmon.
It is understood it will transfer to Glasgow City Council before being handed to Persimmon.
Group chairwoman Geraldine Marshall, 57, said they will fight against the order to save the local children being put “out on the streets”.
She said: “We plan to resist this for as long as we can.”
A local butcher and post office in the row are also in the same position.
Glasgow City Council say they have offered them all new premises, an empty shell, in the new development but the group say they don’t have the money to fit a bathroom and kitchen.
It is understood that the post office and butcher have also not taken up the offer.
The group was started over 10 years ago by Geraldine who, in a bid to keep teenagers off the streets, invited them into her home.
She said: “I had them in my dining room playing pool on the agreement that they could come in as long as they did not drink.
“It worked. Teenagers drink because they have nothing else to do.”
The group grew – it now has a 12-strong board and two paid co-ordinators – and took up a premises in a nearby building called the Playbarn.
But they were forced to leave in 2012 and later set up at the community shop.
The Playbarn was demolished in 2014 to make way for houses.
In their current premises the group run regular and popular youth groups also supporting young people to apply for jobs online and create CVs.
They are a point of contact for vulnerable and elderly local people having helped many out in difficult situations.
One of the group coordinators Nicky Cox, 38, said: “There are so many examples.
“There was one man who had an issue with his energy provider and he couldn’t read the letters because he is blind, he brought them all in and he trusted us to sorted it out.
“If you are a few minutes late opening up the youth club the kids are on Facebook sending us messages.”
She added: “This is our lives, these people are our community – our family. “This is a deprived area. “We are providing vital services, filling in the gaps where other systems have failed.
“But it feels like we are being hounded, like we are always having to fight somebody just to keep doing what we are doing.”
The council says it has a “binding” agreement with the Persimmon “in respect of the provision of residential and retail properties in Garthamlock”.
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “The tenants of the three shops currently in Barholm Square have been aware that they would have to vacate the premises for some time and City Property will shortly be contacting them to advise that vacant possession will be required by 27 April.
“Both Persimmon Partnership and Jobs and Business Glasgow have been in discussion with the shop’s tenants on the possibility of finding new premises in the new retail development in the area.”