‘We never had as much disrespect as we did at that meeting. It was absolutely shocking’
A protest was held at a West Belfast community centre this morning by “disappointed” local residents after it was denied funding by Belfast City Council.
The Glen Community Complex has been described as the heart of the Lenadoon area, providing a space for local residents and groups to gather and support one another through various projects. However, some of this could be put at risk after it was denied funding by Belfast City Council.
The centre provides space for educational courses, daycare, parent groups, support services for women and mothers and community wellbeing with it being the main facility used for the area’s Covid response during the pandemic.
Michael Doherty said he was shocked with the response from the council to the centre’s funding request as it has previously had a very good relationship with it. He said the funding from the Community Support Programme was vital, allowing the centre to provide its facilities free of charge by covering overheads like electricity and heating bills and without it they may have to reduce opening hours or start charging.
Nuala Fitzpatrick told Belfast Live that the services provided at the Glen Community Complex helped her go from “rock bottom” to a safe and secure place where she can best care for her young daughter. Nuala said that she was so impressed with the support that she received from the centre that she now works there.
She said she was shocked and disappointed that the council had rejected the centre’s funding request saying: “Everything that this community represents depends on this building and to me personally I have been able to go from rock bottom as the women’s group was able to support me and gave me everything that I needed and helped save me personally.
“I was then able to get a job her and my daughter attends the daycare while I work and I couldn’t do that without it. The older generation come here for computer classes which helps them to keep in touch with younger family members and in here helps the older generation do that.
“Belfast City Council have two values that standout to me and that is responsibility and integrity and I don’t think they took those into consideration when they made the decision to reject the funding.”
A protest was held at the Glen Community Complex on Friday, May 22, where staff, service users, local residents and political representatives gathered to show their support for a judicial review on the funding rejection.
Michael said at the protest:”For 20 years we’ve had a brilliant relationship with Belfast City Council, we worked really, really well with them, worked well with our staff. We have 1,500 people use the services in there and to be honest with you, we were really shocked in February when we found out that our application had been turned down.
“The funding that we get from the council, it helps towards the gas, electric, the running costs, the cleaning costs, and it allows us, to let groups come in and use it. We have over 12 groups use the building free of charge, and it’s because of the funding we’ve got of them over the years that we were able to do that.
“We actually asked could we appeal the decision, and they said no. I think the thing that made things much worse for us was we actually done a meeting with council officials and it was probably the worst meeting I’ve done in 40 years.
“I’ve met British government ministers, unionist ministers, and we never had as much disrespect as we did at that meeting. It was absolutely shocking.
“Every question we asked was answered by One answer, community development is not a priority in your governing document. That’s all they would say. We pointed out all the services that we run, we were glad that every group that got got the funding that they have.
“But when we looked and seen well over a dozen groups that run the exact same services as we run in there were all being funded and we weren’t, we couldn’t understand it.
“What we have done is we then sought for the first time in our lives to take a judicial review, and the judicial review was in the hope that the courts would overturn the decision.”
Michael said the Council is now “trying everything in its power” to stop the centre from taking a judicial review against them, but they will continue fighting to provide for the local community and residents.
In a statement to Belfast Live, Belfast City Council said: “The Council received and has responded to pre-action correspondence from Glen Community Parent/Youth Group, who were unsuccessful in their application. It would be inappropriate to comment further on this particular application at this time.
“Belfast City Council introduced a new Community Support Plan large grant scheme last year, following a period of public engagement and consultation on the Plan.
“Through this grants programme, the council is providing over £5.4million support per annum to successful applicants, allowing them to bring targeted local activities and support to communities across the city.
“The Community Support Plan Grants scheme offered a three year fund of a maximum of £60,000 per year, to support organisations from April 2026 to March 2029. It opened on August 5, 2025, and applications had to be returned by noon on October 6.
“This was publicised through our usual channels, and we held seven information events for the sector between August 11 and 12 September, across the city and online, to allow organisations to ask questions about the application process.
“We encouraged all applicants to attend these sessions, even if they had received community funding from us on previous occasions, as it was a new process. Ultimately it was however for organisations to ensure that they met the essential criteria and provide the relevant supporting criteria as part of their application.”
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