Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter
Friday August 5, 2011
The Morning Star
Families fighting to save a Glasgow daycare centre for disabled people stepped up their campaign today to force the council to find alternatives to closure.
They say Glasgow City Council plans to demolish the Accord Centre in the East End, which supports more than 120 people with learning disabilities, to make way for a car park for the Commonwealth Games 2014.
Service users and carers were promised a like-for-like replacement when the Games were announced.
But campaigners say the Labour-controlled council has reneged on this promise as it cuts up to 40 per cent from care for people with learning disabilities.
A spokesman for the council insisted that alternative arrangements had been made.
He denied that the site would be turned into a car park but said that "it may be acquired for the Commonwealth Games facilities."
Accord was empty "most of the day" and keeping it open would be a "waste of public resources," the spokesman said.
He added that the majority of Accord service users were "happy" with being moved to the Bombury Centre as an alternative arrangement.
The families dismissed this as "a lie."
Save the Accord Centre campaign spokeswoman Grace Harrigan, whose son attends the centre, said "everyone is angry" about the closure.
"Far from being underused, the centre was overcrowded and had a waiting list," she stressed.
"But since it was targeted for closure, the council has tried to discourage people from coming by stopping all activities, including computer classes and cooking lessons."
Ms Harrigan also dismissed the council's claim that Bombury was a like-for-like facility.
She said it was "a community centre, not a daycare centre. It lacks the specialised resources and services people with learning disabilities need.
"Bombury is already struggling to cater for people in the local area, let alone taking on those from Accord."
She also accused the council of "refusing point-blank" to meet with the carers and the families to resolve the dispute.
"All we want is an adequate like-for-like facility - a demand backed by First Minister Alex Salmond," Ms Harrigan added.
Save the Accord Centre has organised a demonstration in the city centre for August 27.
louise@peoples-press.com
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