Protests and petitions: How budget cuts are impacting South Lanarkshire sports clubs and venues

South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture (SLLC) will withdraw from more than 20 sports venues across the region as it looks to bridge a £4 million budget gap.

SLLC is an arms-length trust which delivers sports and leisure services on behalf of South Lanarkshire Council.

The board of directors agreed to hand the keys to 21 centres back to the Council, and increase concession charges for community groups to use the spaces.

South Lanarkshire currently offers the highest rate of concession discount for clubs in Scotland - however, by reducing that discount, rates for clubs are to more than double.

The local authority and SLLC have agreed to halt the introduction of these charges to allow "further engagement" with clubs.

Football protests to go ahead

However, protests against the new pricing structure are still to go ahead at Newton Farm Primary School this evening.

Clubs say grassroots football is "under attack" as prices go from £20 to £54 for a two-hour slot.

Andrew Fleming is a father from Cambuslang who is concerned for the future of his 9-year-old son's team - he is organising the demonstration.

He told Clyde news: "All of the local clubs are joining together to protest at Newton Farm Primary school to fight against these massive price hikes to lets for pitches.

"It's gone up by an astronomical 114% which is going to force so many teams to go under.

"This will have so many knock-on effects and it's a nonsensical move, no one can get their heads round it.

"There will be a hold on this increase, but we're seeing this for what it is - it's a smokescreen for the prices to be increased.

"We understand that things have gone up, but to increase something by 114%, even Stevie Wonder can see that's just not on.

"I'm a single father and it's already so expensive to get your kid to football.

"This will be detrimental to kids' health and well-being, crime rates will go up, kids won't have anywhere to go.

"I hope that people vent their anger tonight and there's a good turn out, and we'll need to see what happens.

"One man can't move mountains but something's got to be done."

Sports centre fears

A karate club that has been operating in Duncanrig sports centre since 2008 is telling Clyde News theyre worried about the future

Kihonkai Karate Academy says the well-attended East Kilbride class is the cornerstone of the business.

Sensei Stevie Mason said this is "devastating" to his business, as he has until April 1 to find other premises.

Correspondence seen by Clyde News shows that the first official communication from SLLC informing clubs of the closures was sent on March 17 - giving clubs two weeks to relocate.

Head coach Stevie said: "If we don't get a venue soon, it means this class will close - that means 75 students have nowhere to go unless they're able to travel.

"The East Kilbride area is the biggest class that we have, and we started in 2008 and have been using Duncanrig ever since.

"About 70% of our membership is about to be wiped up, and that was devastating to hear.

"SLLC told us they'd look for another venue for us, but we haven't heard anything.

"We really appreciate that, but the issue is, if they come back and tell us we can have a Monday night at another venue, we have to move another class to accommodate that and the whole business we've built will crumble.

"For people in the area, that club is their life - it's the only thing that keeps them doing something active instead of sitting in front of the TV or wandering the streets."

'It's impacting the communities that are already struggling'

"I'd like them to think about the impact this will have on the community - they seem to be hitting the most deprived areas with these cuts.

"We'll need to revert to private lets which are hugely more expensive. That means I pay more hall rent and that cost must be passed onto the students which they can't afford either.

"I understand there has to be cuts, we are all having to tighten our belts, but Duncanrig is so needed and well used in the community.

"Covid-19 was bad enough, it decimated our business and now we've been hit with this, we have the students but not the space.

"We're not asking for this for free, but the more we have to charge, the more it's impacting the communities that are already struggling."

Venues impacted:

SLLC will withdraw from the following clubs by the end of the month:

• Duncanrig Sports Centre
• Chapleton Hall
• Glassford Hall
• Westburn Hall
• Toll Pitch Community Hall
• Spittal Hall
• Uddingston Sports Centre
• Hareleeshill Sportbarn
• Larkfield Hall
• Low Waters Hall
• Hareleeshill Community Wing
• Dalserf Community Wing
• David Milne Centre
• Springwells Hall
• Lesmahagow Sports Centre
• Abington Hall
• Braidwood Community Facility
• The Fountain Lesmahagow
• Carluke Community Wing
• Esrickle Hall
• Dolphinton Village Hall

South Lanarkshire Council is reassuring dual use sports facilities like Uddingston, Duncanrig and Lesmhagow that it will provide a service once SLLC has withdrawn. Sports halls should be available for booking via the council website shortly.

It says a lack of communication from SLLC may have led to confusion and panic.

Petition

Blantyre Community Council has created a petition calling on the protection of children's football, which has amassed more than 7,000 signatures.

The petition reads: "We believe that grassroots football plays a significant role in the wellbeing, mental health, citizenship and social skills of young children.

"The decision to increase the charges will have a cataclysmic effect on the children, their families, the voluntary sector and their coaches.

"We call on South Lanarkshire Leisure Trust and the Council to intervene and reverse this unreasonable decision."

The petition is available here.

SLLC response

South Lanarkshire Council only has control over the planned price increases, but does not control the decision to withdraw from venues as SLLC has an independent board of directors.

SLLC promises to make "every effort" to relocate existing classes to another venue and that a delay in introducing price hikes will allow for further community engagement.

A spokesperson for South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture said: “Following discussions regarding the implementation of changes to the SLLC junior club concessions, SLLC is deferring the implementation of changes until they have had the opportunity for further engagement with clubs.”

South Lanarkshire Council response

Council Leader, Joe Fagan, said cuts were inevitable this year and that the Scottish Government is to blame due to lower budgets allocated to councils.

He said: "We're facing a £4 million budget gap and we've had to take, in some cases, drastic measures to address that.

"SLLC operates from a large number of sites, and operates in a context of rising inflation, rising energy costs, and chronic underfunding from Scottish local government, so the support that we can step in and provide is limited.

"I have to be honest, this year and next are going to be extremely limited and so we're continuing to call for a fair funding settlement from the Scottish Government to help us invest in communities

Leisure and Culture Transformation Fund

It comes after the Council approved an investment to create a Leisure and Culture Transformation fund, which will help to "modernise" some leisure and culture centres across the area.

As well as this, a transition fund of up to £1.5 million will be funded to South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture to help with the budget challenges it is facing.

Councillor Fagan explained why this decision was taken in spite of the closures: "The £13m fund will modernise the estate. and take parts of it where a legacy of underinvestment meant it wasn't able to operate at capacity.

"If we invest that £13m wisely, we can put SLLC on a more sustainable footing, but proposals for where it will be allocated are yet to be developed because it's only just been approved.

"The £1.5m transitional fund has helped SLLC avoid the worst of the cuts.

"The Council was asked to approve the £600,000 increase in concessionary charges, and if we hadn't agreed to do that, SLLC would take that amount in cuts.

"They are already cut to the bone, they've sucked out the marrow and they have nowhere else to go with funding cuts.

"We accept that the increase in the concessionary charges was too much too soon, so we've deferred the introduction to allow engagement, and we have to be honest about the need for better engagement."

Calls to energy companies and Scottish Government

It is clear from the petitions and protests that clubs are not welcoming the increase in concession prices, but Councillor Fagan says the engagement process and delay is to "buy time" to try and find another way to deal with the situation.

"We're going to use this period of deferment to press the energy companies to put more funding into leisure to help providers with the bills.

"We're calling on the Scottish Government to do what the UK Government have already done, and set up a swimming pool fund that would help us ease this pressure.

"I would say that people who are protesting shouldn't just fight against the consequences of austerity, but the root cause.

"They've got to join us in demanding a fairer deal for our community, which means they need to demand their MSPs back a fairer settlement for South Lanarkshire Council.

"We've all got to take responsibility for the decisions we make, but I simply say, the decisions that SLLC are having to make are a product of austerity.

"That austerity was not created in South Lanarkshire."

Are you impacted by these cuts? Get in touch with our reporter Alice Faulkner on alice.faulkner@bauermedia.co.uk.

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