There are fears a historic Dundee charity – credited by one businessman with keeping kids off the streets – will be forced to reduce its services due to council funding cuts.
The Grey Lodge Settlement has been operating in the Hilltown area for about 130 years.
The charity runs a number of initiatives for young and elderly people, with an emphasis on mental health and wellbeing, supporting hundreds of locals per week.
But Dundee City Council’s SNP administration is planning to axe the £56,000 of funding it provides to the service each year.
It comes as councillors look to plug an £18 million budget gap at a meeting on Thursday.
The charity also receives funding from other sources but says the loss of council cash would be a significant blow.
‘Grey Lodge helped me avoid drink and drugs’
Former Hilltown resident Gavin Christie attended a project run by Grey Lodge from the age of six, and says the charity provides an essential service.
Gavin, now 37 – who recently opened a bouldering gym – said: “We started coming along during the holiday breaks when my mum was a single parent and we had no money.
“We had nothing. I slept on a mattress on the floor and I think this was probably the only place my mum was able to put us during the holidays so she was still able to work.
“It gave me the opportunity not to be on the streets all the time and helped me develop into an adult.
“The ones that actually managed to stick it out here are the ones that have done alright in life.
“The rest of the people I grew up with around here, a lot of them are bed-bound due to issues with drugs and alcohol.”
Volunteers ‘devastated’ by cuts
Grey Lodge employs 11 staff and has 50 volunteers.
Alison Sturrock, one of the charity’s volunteers for more than 20 years, helps with the charity’s Open Door Project – which takes elderly residents out on day trips.
Alison said: “We have one lady on our bus, her family lives in Oxford and she rarely sees them – and she says Grey Lodge is her family.
“She really relies on us for everything: for friendship, visits, transport and money support.
“I’m devastated by the cuts – without us, some of the elderly people would just be housebound, they wouldn’t get out at all.”
Council documents claim The Grey Lodge Settlement has “significant reserves, therefore should be able to absorb this whilst seeking alternative funding”.
But Iain Glass, chairman of Grey Lodge, claims this is not the whole story.
Money earmarked for new minibuses
He says the charity has been saving up to buy new minibuses after a former member left money for the organisation in his will.
Iain said: “It’s frustrating that the information that’s going to be put in front of a council committee to decide on our funding has not got the full picture.”
Alan Duncan, CEO at Grey Lodge, says the longer-term effect of the loss of funding is not yet clear.
He said: “Right now we really don’t know the impact of the cuts, but there’s absolutely no question there will be an impact.
“We’re not offered the chance to plead our case – we lost £19k last year and now we’re losing £56k.
“Dundee City Council are cutting back on opportunities for young people – they’re restricting rather than enlarging their futures.”
Last week, leader of Dundee City Council, John Alexander, said a 30% council tax increase would be required to balance all the city’s priorities, projects and investments without cuts.
He highlighted that no final decision will be made until Thursday’s budget meeting and said they are “working to strike the right balance in the toughest circumstances”.
Neither Mr Alexander or the SNP administration’s finance spokesperson, Willie Sawers, responded to a request for comment regarding the Grey Lodge.
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