RENTON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TRUST
The John Connolly Centre Main Street Renton
HISTORY
The Renton Community Development Trust (the Trust) was established in 2004 to further develop the regeneration progress already being made in the village of Renton and to look at ways of developing the skills that exist in the community to ensure its long-term sustainability and viability.
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Our premises is at the John Connolly Centre Renton G82 4LY was closed in 2007 when the local authority decided it wasn't financially viable to keep it open and closed it down, local activists took over the building and conducted a sit in which resulted in the council raising legal proceedings to have them forcibly removed.
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This forced closure came at the same time as the council decided to close our nursery and library, the community continued to fight this closure and in 2009 due to political upheaval within the local authority an opportunity arose to transfer the building into community ownership.
Officers were ordered to transfer the building into the ownership of the Trust at zero cost, officers took it upon themselves to insert very restrictive terms of transfer resulting in a 25 year claw back agreement being installed in the transfer which prevented and continues to prevent ( the local authority will still not drop these restrictive terms) the trust from using the building as collateral to borrow against.
THE CENTRE TODAY
The centre is now run by volunteers, its hosts three groups weekly, holds councillors surgeries, hosts a political party and is hired for parties, conferences etc.
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We have just received another grant to replace the heating system which should be complete and installed by in September 2019.
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It can be hired by members of the community and those from further afield.
