Decision delayed on council funding for Edinburgh's Corstorphine Community Centre

A DECISION on whether council cash should go to help rebuilding a community centre destroyed by fire seven years ago has been delayed until after next week's UK budget, which could see extra funding for the Capital.Tory and Lib Dem councillors argued for Corstorphine Community Centre's request for £750,000 to be met from unallocated reserves.

Tory finance spokesman Graham Hutchison claimed senior councillors had given assurances in the past that the council would give funding to the project. "This is a question of integrity for the council," he said.

But finance convener Alasdair Rankin said the reserves were intended to cover unexpected issues such as a roof blowing off a council building, a fire at a school or coping with the coronavirus.

And he said the council should wait and see what additional capital funding might be available after next week.

The issue became a high-profile row last month when Lord Provost Frank Ross, who is SNP councillor for Corstorphine/Murrayfield, refused to support the SNP-Labour administration's budget because funding for Corstorphine community centre was not included.

A report to the finance committee highlighted the poor condition of community centres across the city, with more than £13m of investment needed to avoid further closures.

Green finance spokesman Gavin Corbett said he had enormous sympathy with Corstorphine community centre, but also with other communities who faced centres in poor condition and possible closures.

"The only fair thing to do is assess all community centres together in terms of their urgency and the benefit - and I see no reason why Corstorphine shouldn't be part of that process. It could well emerge as a high priority from the process, but until that is done I don't think we can pick out one community centre."

Robert Aldridge said the community centre wanted to ensure services available elsewhere in the city were also available in Corstorphine because it did not have the same levels of support for people who were in poverty or excluded.

If the centre does not get funding to rebuild on the site where the old community centre in Corstorphine Public Hall was burned down in 2013, a back-up option is for the community to seek to take over Westfield House, a council-owned office building in Kirk Loan.

Tommy McLean, from Corstorphine Community Centre, appealed to councillors not to make a decision on disposal of Westfield House until discussions with the community centre had been completed.

"Our favoured option is still building on our current site," he said. "But Westfield House would be very viable and would make a good community centre for the area."