A residential drug service in Glasgow is to close after a long-running financial dispute with its council-owned landlord. The service run by Turning Point Scotland in Tradeston will shut, while a nearby drug crisis centre will move to the site instead.
The crisis centre, which was also run by Turning Point Scotland, will be taken over by Glasgow City Council and the city's Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). The move follows a 14-month dispute over rent increases and repair bills with City Property, the arms-length company that manages the council's commercial properties.
Both Turning Point Scotland and Glasgow City HSCP have blamed each other for the decision to close the service. Staff were informed last Friday, and 87 people are affected. City Property declined to comment on what it called a "commercially sensitive" arrangement.
The two drug and alcohol services had been located close to each other in the Tradeston area of Glasgow. The 16-bed residential facility in Commerce Street offers six-week stays to stabilise drug use and detox from non-prescribed substances. The crisis centre in West Street offers urgent care for up to 20 people at risk of serious harm or death.
Glasgow's HSCP will move the crisis centre to the Commerce Street site, while drug stabilisation services will be run in the community instead.
Neil Richardson, chief executive of Turning Point Scotland, said:
"Replacing the residential stabilisation service with a community-based model will remove 16 beds from Glasgow's alcohol and drug support system.
"That raises important questions about how people who need intensive residential support will continue to access it."
Turning Point Scotland chief executive Neil Richardson
The crisis service is expected to switch in early October, while the stabilisation service contract is due to end on 24 October. Richardson added:
"Changes of this scale would ordinarily require significantly longer to plan and implement safely.
"Only days before this decision, we were told bringing the services in-house wasn't considered a viable option because of the cost, disruption and lack of specialist expertise.
"We have yet to receive a clear explanation of what changed."
Turning Point Scotland criticised what it described as "commercially aggressive" tactics and last week told the BBC its rent had doubled from £65,000 to £131,000 a year. It also fears a large dilapidation bill for the building, a cost often faced by commercial tenants for repairs when they leave a property.
The dispute follows a separate argument over a £806,000 bill after Turning Point Scotland left another site in Bath Street when a service for women in the justice system closed.
Remains a priority
Glasgow HSCP said Turning Point Scotland had "indicated that they are not able to continue with contract on the basis of financial risk". A spokesperson said the crisis centre "remains a priority" and would "transition with no intended gap in service".
An impact assessment will be carried out to review the future of the stabilisation service. The spokesperson added:
"This decision is based on the intentions of Turning Point Scotland and the commitment the HSCP has to its most vulnerable service users.
"The HSCP cannot comment on the relationship between Turning Point Scotland and City Property."
City Property, which has Glasgow City Council as one of its directors, said the primary factors in the dispute were the terms of the lease. It declined to discuss details because of commercial sensitivity, but said it had been in regular communication with Turning Point to find "viable solutions".
Scotland's alcohol and drugs minister, Maree Todd, said she was "very concerned" but the Scottish government could not intervene in a contractual dispute. She added:
"We have been clear that we value the work done by these services and that every reasonable opportunity to explore resolution should have been taken."
It is the latest rent and repairs row between City Property and charity tenants in the past year. Other tenants in dispute have included an elderly group, a family charity and a number of arts groups.
