Community garden plan rejected by North Lanarkshire Council in Viewpark in cash row

On Wednesday, February 10, members of the Environment and Transportation committee refused to accept Viewpark Gardens Trust’s offer to take over management of the gardens in Thorniewood which were closed as a result of budget cuts made in 2019.
The decision was in line with recommendations made by council officers who had concerns over the financial viability of the project and the charity’s experience with operating such facilities.
Presenting her report to the committee, Head of Communities Lizanne McMurrich said that although it was acknowledged that a significant amount of work had gone into the application and community engagement under challenging circumstances but the positive aspects did not outweight the risks and concerns.
These issues included financial viability and projections, the group’s lack of a proven track record in managing services of this type, a lack of experience in generating the required amount of funding and insufficiently reassuring financial plans.
Councillor William Goldie said the group had indicated they felt there were a number of inaccuracies in the report and wished to remain engaged in the community asset transfer process but with a greater degree of communication with the council. He said he had wanted to table an amendment extending the decision process but could not as the trust had not consented to this.
Councillor Michael McPake, convening the meeting, said: “We’ve tried and tried and tried to get some form of words from the group to say exactly that and I just can’t see why it hasn’t come forward.”
Council leader Jim Logue added: “I think all members know that the council is very supportive of community asset transfers. In fact there has been a number of transfers which have been sourced over the last year since we formulated the policy in 2019.
“It is certainly disappointing that that has not been realised here. If the trust has any concerns I’m sure that there will be scope for those to be articulated at the next stage and that will be the appeal to the Scottish Government which they rightly have pointed out they will access,”
The charity’s application to lease the gardens for the nominal sum of £1 per year also came under fire, with Councillor Logue saying that other community asset transfers had been done at market value, which in this case would be £36,000 per year and described the offer as “derisory” and “insulting”.
He also said that an “incredible amount of negativity” had been directed towards council officers, before adding that granting this transfer would set a dangerous precedent and undermine the council’s position on other transfers which had been completed and would come in future.
Councillor Paul Di Mascio then explained that his understanding was that the financial issues referenced in the report had only been communicated with the trust a fortnight previously.
“If that is the case then the group really haven’t had any time to react,” he added.
Assistant chief executive Robert Steenson said that although the report had been published a fortnight before the meeting engagement with the group went back to their original application and all aspects had been covered.
“They were given a final opportunity two weeks ago to revise and reconsider and they chose not to do so, so please don’t think that was when they were advised of any issues.”
Councillor Goldie withdrew his amendment to grant the application on the basis that the trust would be lodging an appeal, and therefore the recommendation to reject the application was agreed unanimously.