Despite the outpouring of support from our community and service users, the decision was taken by North Lanarkshire Council today to defund the YMCA Bellshill & Mossend. The Board and Staff Team are devastated at this decision which sees our highly valued youth work service decimated and many young people left without the much needed support.
All councillors were made aware of the public outcry, highlighting our petition with over 1290 signatures and were sent an opposition paper. However, many councillors didn’t listen and voted to take away the funding today - including one of our local councillors, Cllr Campbell.
The YMCA would like to thank those who listened and in particular to Cllr Larson and her colleagues for speaking in our favour, urging the council to reconsider today.
The YMCA are particularly concerned about the comments made in the meeting by the council leader, Cllr Logue and the organisation have written a public letter to Cllr Logue to seek clarity on his comments.
This letter can be viewed here:
Sadly, without the funding, the future of the YMCA Bellshill and Mossend hangs in the balance. The Board will be meeting next week to discuss next steps and make very tough decisions on the future of the organisation.
Once again we want to thank everyone who has supported us, please continue to champion our cause by sharing on social media and making your thoughts known to your local councillors. We hope that despite this huge setback we can continue to help and support the community in Bellshill and wider North Lanarkshire moving forward.