1,000 signatures reached
To: Free Wheel North Directors & Glasgow City Council
Save Our Cycling Centre
We call for Free Wheel North to give up its lease with Glasgow City Council for the Glasgow Green site, so that another organisation can run this centre properly. And we call for Glasgow City Council to promote a lease transfer as quickly as possible.
Why is this important?
This will enable the return of a safe cycle space for all, and for the centre to be run for the community, by the community.
The Glasgow Green cycling centre is not just a patch of ground with bikes on it. It is nothing without the workers, volunteers and service-users who made it what it was: A safe, inclusive community which provided a shared experience for all.
We are campaigning to recreate that cycling centre - for cycling lessons, led rides, disability cycling, bike repair and volunteering. We want a safe space for people of all ages and abilities to enjoy cycling.
Free Wheel North sacked its workforce with immediate effect on 21st September. They claimed that there was no funding left to pay wages and that the cycling centre was making a loss of £10,000 a month. But the financial figures they provided changed - literally - from one day to the next.
Staff were sacked before they had a chance to challenge the final set of figures.
Committed volunteers with years of experience were dumped. The centre is now being run by Free Wheel North Directors and inexperienced volunteers.
This needs to change. Free Wheel North should be held to account for undemocratic governance.
Prior to the redundancies, other organisations were interested in taking over the lease to keep the staff in their jobs, and to keep the volunteers in their posts. They are still interested in taking over the lease and running it properly, with due care to Health and Safety, PVG checks, welfare of staff, volunteers and service users, and providing a safe, inclusive environment.
The Office of Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has an open inquiry into FWN due to the number of concerns raised throughout 2022.
How it will be delivered
This petition is being used as part of a body of evidence that is being presented to national & local politicians, local government etc to show the strength of support to return the cycling centre on Glasgow Green to an inclusive centre.
