A centre at the heart of the Dundee community for several decades could be facing closure.
Kirkton community centre has been a base for locals for more than 40 years.
But now, the centre is at risk due to a new community hub model proposed by Dundee City Council.
The model would see the 26 organisations that run groups at Kirkton moved into schools and other centres.
Centre trustee Melanie Kiyani said: “We had the proposal for the hub leaked way back after we were contacted by an anonymous source.
“We contacted the council and they were like no, no nothing like that at all. And then it came out.”
The centre currently has a petition running to stop the closure.
Dundee council are also running a public consultation, that will close on Friday.
Kept in the dark
Jon Vaughan, convener of the management group at Kirkton, said he had been incredibly frustrated by the lack of communication from the council.
“It’s like I’m banging my head off a brick wall,” he said.
“I had been emailing them asking what was going on and got no response.
“Then, I got a phone call on a Friday to say could you tell the management group this idea is about to go live and before I’d the chance to contact them it had gone out on Facebook.”
He said he’d been disappointed with the hub team, adding: “They’ve not really dealt with us.
“They’ve had meetings with every other stakeholder in the process including head teachers and business managers and they’ve all been around the table making decisions, planning things and we’ve been sat in the dark for almost 18 months.”
Hundreds of people come through the doors of the centre every week, providing affordable groups for all ages, from newborns to the elderly.
One pensioner group has 40 members in it, and meets in the centre at 10am to give over 55s a place to check in, play games like bingo or take part in line dancing.
No other spaces for clubs
“There is no other large space that they would fit in, in the hub model,” Jon said.
Mel added: “They told us well you can maybe have the room at 4pm but we can use the school building right up till 6pm so that’s entirely up to us if we’ll let you in or not.
“And that’s for a lunch group.”
“Our toddler group was offered 4pm on a Friday,” Jon explained.
“How is a toddler group supposed to run at 4pm on a Friday? It’s just not going to work.
“Schools that are purposely built with community use in mind – the one in Perth, that school is absolutely sublime. St Pauls and Baldragon were not built for that.”
‘Just leave us be’
Other facilities, such as the Strathmartine Larder, offer safe, judgement-free places for people to get advice and food packages.
Jon said: “We serve up to 80 folk a week through that.
“There’s a lot of service users who use this building because it’s a safe space for them.
“They can come in and they know they’ll get their money fixed, they can get a food parcel. There’s a lot of services who use this building.
“So where are those people, who are on the margins of society, supposed to go?
“Are these services going to end up in some building down in the city centre where they’re not able to reach people who need it?”
Jon hopes the council will sit down with them and hear their concerns.
He added: “They keep saying it’s just part of a trial. We have told them we don’t want to be part of a trial, leave us be.
“I know the building is big and it costs a lot.
“Let’s fix that and look at how we deal with that, rather than stripping us of the community centre and leaving the community with nothing.”
Creating new community hubs
A Dundee City Council spokesperson said: “Following delays because of the pandemic, the council has recently been carrying out further consultation on the Kirkton proposal.
“This aims to create two new community hubs at St Paul’s and Baldragon Academies.
“A range of partners are involved in the hubs model proposals to ensure people have access to a wide range of services and groups to support children, families and the wider community both within and beyond the school day – a place in the heart of the community where people can learn, be active and receive support.
“No decision to close the community centre has been taken.
“Officers are still engaging with the community and groups on a range of matters.
“Feedback from this stage of the consultation will help inform a further report to the council’s policy and resources committee later this year.
“Many of activities carried out at Kirkton Community Centre at present could be accommodated within the Kirkton Community Hub model.
“They will provide groups with access to superior quality facilities to the benefit of the community accessing these activities and services.”