A COUNCIL-OWNED football pitch in Springburn is set to be taken over and leased by a new organisation with the current charity running the venue having to leave if plans go-ahead.

Talks are to start over the transfer of the lease despite concerns over the new replacement organisation’s funding availability.

Council officials will begin negotiations with the Brunswick Community Development Trust for the Springburn Park pitch and pavilion, and they insist “challenging” questions will be asked.

Some councillors voiced fears over the organisation’s long-term funding, after it had a £276,000 bid to the council’s Communities Fund rejected in January.

The venue has been managed by Partick Thistle Charitable Trust, in partnership with Glasgow Life, since 2020, but officials recommended its bid for a lease was refused.

It is expected the Brunswick Trust would initially enter a licence to occupy for 12 months, with “ongoing monitoring and support".

Officials said there would be a “robust” development phase before any agreement.

Councillor Cecilia O’Lone, Labour, said the trust has “told the community that if they do not receive significant funding by May they will be closed”, after it missed out on council funding.

She asked for the process to be deferred until May to “see where we stand financially", with the Partick Thistle Trust continuing to run the facility until then.

A council official said they are “working with all organisations very closely in terms of the funding".

She added: “We would not enter into a licence to occupy until the funding is secured.”

She also said the earliest a licence to operate would be awarded was likely to be August or September, once the current football season is completed.

Councillor Ruairi Kelly, SNP, said councillors were only being asked to allow negotiations, and “no organisation is going to be able to give a guarantee of long-term revenue income streams because of the way the funding mechanisms work".

Councillor Jon Molyneux, Greens, said the process felt “subjective” and was potentially “putting community up against community and creating division".

He added the long-term uncertainty over funding is “a very good argument for why these assets should be in public control to start with”.

Bids to lease the Broomfield Road facility were made under the People Make Glasgow Communities programme, a scheme which allows local groups to take over the management of council-owned venues.

Both trusts applied to run the Springburn Park synthetic pitch, changing facilities and office space.

The Brunswick Trust has been running youth and community services from the Brunswick Centre in Balornock for more than 70 years. It wants the pitch for “community and commercial use”, council officials reported, and would give first priority to local teams. The organisation also plans to expand its services to offer more free or affordable sport and promote women's and girls’ football. 

Partick Thistle Charitable Trust wanted to host “a multitude of local community football clubs” for girls and boys, and work with local schools to increase participation in sport. It also proposed to create a community hub in the park, improving the changing facilities and creating a meeting area for groups.

The proposals were assessed by officials from the council and Glasgow Life, with the Brunswick Trust’s bid recommended to be taken forward to the development phase.

While they acknowledged the trust “does not have substantial experience in managing a football facility, officials said over 1500 people responded to community consultation, and 90% lived and worked in Springburn".

However, they said Partick Thistle Charitable Trust’s consultation wasn’t “satisfactory” as only 10 people attended in-person events and 34 responded to an online survey.

Officials did not have “confidence that the wider community was supporting the proposal”.

After the meeting, councillor Kelly, who is the council’s convener for neighbourhood services and assets, said: “The synthetic pitch and pavilion at Springburn Park is a key facility for this part of the city, and the response of the local community to the proposals of the Brunswick Community Development Trust for its future use showed the support for these.”

The issue will go before councillors again before a final decision on any licence to occupy or lease is agreed.