– Concerning news
– What can I do? – Come to Lenzie Public Hall open meeting this Tuesday, 17 June, 7pm, Lenzie Union Church New Hall
– What’s the concern?
Concerning news
We’re extremely disappointed and concerned.
Lenzie Public Hall is back up for sale or let.
Offers to allow for continued community use and be submitted by 26 September 2025.
Sadly, the Council did not agree to our request to delay the marketing of the hall for 6 months to enable any community-led organisation to look into the feasibility of and submit a Community Asset Transfer without the risk of competing offers from non-community-led entities.
What can I do? – Come to Lenzie Public Hall open meeting this Tuesday, 17 June, 7pm, Lenzie Union Church New Hall
Lenzie Community Development Trust are hosting a Lenzie Public Hall open meeting for the whole community to come together to help work out how to shape the future of the Public Hall.
We’ve a small working group currently looking at the feasibility of the community taking on the hall.
We’re going to go to the meeting.
If you value the hall whether as an individual, local group or business, have ideas as to its use, are interested in getting involved or just would like to listen and learn more about the hall and how the community may be able to take it on then,
Come and join us and everyone else there!
What’s the concern?
A non-community-led entity could submit a successful offer for the hall saying that it will offer continued community use. Afterwards, if, for example, it:
– fails to provide community access
– increases rents so no they’re unaffordable
– fails to repair the building
– decides to sell on the building to another third party,
then there is no longer any mechanism under which the community can have a say to stop this.
This isn’t acceptable for a building built using funds raised by the community and on land gifted to the community for use as a public hall.
In contrast, if a community-led organisation owns it, ordinarily any member of the community can become a member of the organisation and the organisation members elect who controls that organisation. If the Council owns it (as it does now), they may not always work to get what we’d like (as they haven’t here) but there are processes in place, if needed, for us to have our say and through which to raise concerns.
To protect the hall, either the Council or a community-led organisation needs to own it.