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Govanhill Baths Community Trust |
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On 12th
August our further information dossier was submitted to the council. This was
a substantial document. Our
partners in our quest to re-open Govanhill
Baths as a Healthy Living Centre
include Govanhill Housing Association, Govanhill Development Trust,
NORD Architects Glasgow, all local community Councils (Govanhill and
Crosshill, Battlefield, Strathbungo and Pollokshields), Victoria Baths Trust
Manchester, John Dickie and Moore builders, NHS Primary Care Trust, In
particular the Govanhill Housing Association (GHA) are happy to manage the
project should we get the go ahead on 8th September when the
Council’s Development and Regeneration Services will make a decision. GHA has been particularly helpful and gave
us valuable advice as we prepared the final draft. Local MP
Mohammad Sarwar has repeatedly made clear his full support for this project
and continues to assist us in its development. The heart
of the project is the involvement of and collaboration with the local
community and agencies within it. An
extract from our submission is included below that summarises this. The support from the local
business community is particularly important. They made it abundantly
clear how they valued and welcomed the initiative. Community soundings
via the public meeting in February and our regular leafleting campaign also
make clear how determined the community is to see this Project
succeed. Time only allowed us to sample a section and only two
declined to sign our letter of support out of 84 visited. Extract
from Further Particulars submitted to the Council, 12th August
2005 The
community involvement will be built fundamentally around six dimensions. The first being the four local community
councils who are formal associates of the Trust. The second via liaison with the various
swimming clubs that have used the baths in the past and would prefer the
local option, the third being through those links established via the Glasgow
Housing Association and the S.E. Glasgow Health Board. The fourth via the provision of a swimming
facility for local schools (again it is not possible to quantify this in this
document because the schools have been closed) and the fifth via the various
faith communities. The engagement of
the local schools in the Centre via their formal school curricula we believe
will ground the project in the hearts and minds of local youth. Finally we believe that a key heart of
Govanhill is its business community.
It is clear that this community is wholly in favour of our
Project. We have visited some 82 shops
and businesses in the area and indicated our plans. We provided them with an explanatory letter
and a response that they were invited to sign this or complete their own
response. This
Healthy Living Centre we believe will bring many visitors to Govanhill from
surrounding areas and there will clearly be a major spin off (as there was
when the pool was open) for the local businesses in terms of shopping.
It is generally acknowledged that a vibrant business community is
central to a cohesive community and these are dynamically linked. If
this bid is allowed to proceed it is our intention to engage with all local
businesses and we are confident that a number of them may wish to contribute
financially to the scheme as was originally suggested in the Park and Page
study. We are hopeful that larger
companies such as Sommerfield, Arnold Clark and some of the chain store shops
may wish to sponsor the Project in return for advertising services. It is our
intention also to liaise with the Culture and Leisure Services Department of
Glasgow City Council in order to establish working links particularly with
regard to swimming and recreational services.
That department has recently established a clear need for the proper
provision of swimming facilities for Black and Ethic Minority Groups,
particularly Muslim women, and this facility will clearly provide such a
facility. We have noted the recent
decision for the Directors of CLS and Education to work together in a
Commission in relation to their services and we believe this Project could be
central, when combined with health considerations, to the development of
community based work and provision in these areas. Again it is our intention to explore these
dimensions more fully within a full feasibility study. Expressions
of Interest After
calling for expressions of interest in June the Council has now informed us that
it requires us to provide additional information in respect of our initial
bid for the baths by responding to a series of questions by 12th
August. These are attached below for
information and interest. It seems
that there are three other expressions of interest and information has
reached us informally that another may also have been commissioned. On 8th
September a sub-committee of the Development and Regeneration Services
Committee of GCC will then review the expressions of interest and decide which,
if any, are viable. We are told that
thereafter it may be that more time could be given to assemble more concrete
details since the timescale for this exercise is relatively short. We are
confident given the enormous support we have and the plans we have for this
facility to become a community run Healthy Living centre that our bid will be
strong. This is now a crucial time
for the Govanhill bid. Help us to continue to support this work.
The Council’s position on Govanhill Baths now they are “surplus to its requirements”
In November 2004 the Trust was informed by the City Council’s Regeneration and Development Department (RGD) that it would be calling for expressions of interest in the Govanhill Baths in January 2005 in press advertisements.
In this regard we wrote to the council on 19th December 2004. (see Letters page). No reply has been received to date to this letter although an Email (below) has been received in response to our invitation to RGD to attend our Steering Group Meeting of January 11th. We have been assured verbally that nothing has been removed from the building and what was removed was portable seating that was stored and roof work was to asses any damage that might have been caused by vandals or people breaking in.
Last week (3rd February) RGD informed us that it would not now be advertising the pool in January as stated since “there are now other considerations” to be made by the council. No information would be given about these considerations.
Given the List B status of the building the Trust is confident that the council will be ensuring that the building is kept in good repair and weather proofed.
The Trust remains concerned that RGD will not allow access to the building for its architects yet had done so for the Dixon Community Trust. We have raised this matter formally with local Councillor Cunning who has agreed to explore this matter . A meeting will now take
place next Saturday 12th February between MSP Frank McAveaty, MP
Mohammad Sarwar, Cllrs Anne Marie Miller and Cunning and members of the
Trust’s Board. The broad purpose of
the meeting is to explore the Trust’s purposes and the extent to which they
can and will be shared by the Glasgow City Council - above all the
acquisition of the Baths complex by the Trust.
Computer graphic pictures of the NORD architects visions of the Govanhill complex will be posted here shortly along with pictures of the inside of the pool building. |
