According to the Glasgow Herald, "Culture and Sport Glasgow is reputedly on the cusp of a major expansion, which could see it run civic cultural and leisure services across Scotland."  [Full article from here.]

News that CSG is spending £50k on rebranding has made it to the Evening Times (article from here), where they (CSG) note that its a small amount to spend consolidating its 'various' brands. Pity they couldn't find an even smaller amount (£1,800) to keep ORC & the other open. Shame that they feel they should 'market' their facilities rather than keeping those same facilities open to they communities marketing them!

GCC's surveyors recently visited ORC and found what the users have been saying all the time: ORC does not need £78,000 - £125,000 of repairs. It needs less than £2000! Full report (1 page) from here.

Commenting on reports that Culture & Sport Glasgow have spent £50,000 developing a new brand identity, at a time when they have withdrawn vital funding from community facilities across the city, SNP councillor Craig Mackay commented:

“The council have just approved Culture & Sport’s recommendation to close eleven community centres and halls across the city, based on a budget shortfall. I was therefore stunned to hear that at the same time they are spending tens of thousands of pounds on external consultancies to re-brand themselves.

“£50,000 would have been enough to keep several community halls open for a further year, which would have been sufficient time to develop sustainable community management structures outwith Culture & Sport. These halls provide a vital service to grassroots community organisations and sports clubs, and are one of the core functions Culture & Sport was set up to support. A shiny new logo will do nothing to help these groups, and this re-branding exercise could easily have waited until the financial situation was more favourable.

“I have been working with community organisations in an effort to save the Overnewton Recreation Centre in Yorkhill, and this news is simply a further kick in the teeth for the groups who will be displaced by its closure.”

Notes:

Glasgow City Council voted to close 11 community centres on 28^th January, as part of Culture & Sport’s recommendations for budget savings.

Figures provided by Culture & Sport Glasgow show that the Overnewton Recreation Centre had an average annual budget deficit of £1860 between 2005 and 2009.

The new brand, which will be publicly launched early this summer, cost £50,000 in external consultancy fees. It replaces a familiar logo which has only been in use since Culture & Sports inception in 2006.

This should be in the grapevine section, but its so outrageous it should be here! Thanks to Cllr. Mackay!

From: [edited]
Sent: 17 February 2010 15:19
To: [edited]
Subject: FW: Urgent - Brief for Elected Members
Importance: High

 

Dear Elected Member,

I'm delighted to update you on plans by Culture and Sport Glasgow (CSG) to roll-out its new brand architecture. The new concept has been designed to increase both awareness of, and participation in, well-loved services which can help our citizens to get the most out of life.

From the Glasgow Club, to our events programmes, libraries, world-class museums and community services, CSG offers an incredibly diverse range of services. This new brand will create an umbrella which brings these services together, and will help the public to get the most out of what we do.

Starting in the early summer, the new brand will become increasingly visible across facilities and events. To date, the cost of developing the branding strategy has been £50,000, which has been met through CSG's existing marketing budget. The roll-out will take some time, as the new brand will only replace the existing identity when need dictates - such as the natural cycle for replacing uniforms or updating leaflets etc. This means the cost of the rebrand exercise will be met through CSG's core marketing costs.

Work on developing the new brand began last May and has involved detailed consultation with customers, key partners and staff - more than 200 individuals in total. Testing of the new concept is almost complete and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

As part of this process, early next month, we will be running short presentations for Elected Members, outlining why we have developed the new brand and the opportunities it provides to further improve and inspire the lives of Glaswegians. I do hope you will join us as we reveal this exciting development - further details to follow.

If you require any further information, please don't hesitate in coming back to me.

Regards,  

 

Bailie Liz Cameron
Chair, Culture and Sport Glasgow

The amount of money spent on repairing potholes in Glasgow is to be trebled to £12million in the year from April. [...read the full article from Evening News]

Here is a short overview of the Council's budget meeting.

Labour presented a few amendments not included in the previously circulated papers, but still recommended the CSG proposals to close the community facilities on 31^st March.

The SNP Group included £547,000 in our budget proposals to keep the halls open for a further 12 months, to enable the time required for longer term management arrangements to be developed.

The Green Group similarly proposed the retention of the majority of these facilities, including capital funding for repair works, as per the paper circulated by Nina yesterday.

The LibDems had nothing to say on the issue, and the sole Conservative councillor said he not only supported the closure of the facilities, but called for an increase in charges for those which remain open.

Labour did not accept any of the opposition amendments, and the vote went as follows:

     Labour 42

     SNP    17

     LibDem 5

     Green   5

As such, the Overnewton Centre is indeed scheduled to close in nine weeks time. The local Cllrs (with the exception of Bailie Matheson) will be discussing the issue further to see how we might take this forward, including pursuing CSG for more details about how they can support various scenarios we might propose.

A story from the Glasgow Herald.

If Bert has to close Clydeview it will be a serious blow to the community and it makes a total mockery of Glasgow being the host of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Still, at least the councillors will have their limousines to get them to and from events, eh?

Glasgow City Council today voted to close the ORC without any consultation with users, or proper analysis of the financial costs.  This is a serious blow to the groups who rely on the centre and have used it for many, many years.

The vote followed party lines and the only the SNP and Greens (with a very few Labour rebels) stood up for the centre users and the people of Glasgow.  We thank them for this.  The Labour rank and file simply played follow-the-leader as they have done so many times in the past.

A budget proposal was put forward which could have saved the centres.  This was not accepted by the Labour-run council, clearly keeping their limousines is more important to them than protecting services for the people of Glasgow.

This story will be updated with further details sa they emerge.