Glasgow to spend £20m on ‘transformative’ community hubs

Glasgow will get new community hubs in six of its wards, with more planned in the future. Credit: Maarit Ignatius-Kuittinen from Pixabay

Glasgow City Council will spend £20m on the first phase of a new set of community hubs for the city.

The first phase of hubs, which will allow residents to access multiple services from the council and its partners in a single location, was considered by a council committee earlier this week.

The community hubs will initially be developed in six of Glasgow’s council wards – Baillieston, Calton, Canal, Drumchapel/Anniesland, Greater Pollok, and Pollokshields – before being followed by future hubs in other parts of the city.

Cllr Greg Hepburn, chair of Glasgow City Council’s Neighbourhoods, Housing and Public Realm City Policy Committee, said: ‘These proposals would deliver a new model of community service provision that best meets the needs and convenience of Glaswegians, bringing local services together into one accessible space.

‘This £20m investment will be the first stage in transforming how people access these services in Glasgow, and the new community hubs will play a key role in regenerating the six areas identified.’

The council will now commence a community engagement programme to identify what services local people and organisations need in their area.

These sessions will link in with existing structures such as local community planning groups and citizens panels.

Four of the wards where the hubs will be set up are already pilot areas for participatory budgeting, which allows residents to feed into the council’s financial decisions.

These pilot areas all focus on addressing poverty and inequality and are in Calton (child poverty), Canal (income/employment deprivation), Greater Pollok (young people) and Pollokshields (BME communities).

Work will continue on identifying locations for future community hubs as part of the council’s Property and Land Strategy, which aims to make the best possible use of the council’s property and land assets.

‘Future hubs in other parts of the city will play a similar role in bringing these social and economic benefits all across Glasgow,’ Cllr Hepburn added.

Earlier this year Glasgow City Council took ownership of the Dalmarnock Legacy hub, which includes a purpose-built community hall, nursery and medical services, after it fell into administration at the end of January.

The council will soon start engaging with the local community to decide how best to use the building and who will operate and manage it.