A LOCAL councillor said his worst fears have come true after a derelict community centre he was hoping to save burned down.

Paul Carey, councillor for Drumchapel, told the Post he had been working "for years" to strike a deal for a community group to take over the former Stonedyke Neighbourhood Centre after it closed in 2019.

However, on Saturday firefighters were called to the Belsyde Avenue building after it went up in flames.

Councillor Carey slammed the incident as “an absolute disgrace”.

He said: “Over the last number of years, I have been working really hard with Glasgow City Council and a local community group to strike a deal for them to take over the building.

“Unfortunately, the council would not agree to their terms and going forward my biggest fear was this building was going to go on fire which has now come to fruition.

“This an absolute disgrace. We had a major opportunity to hand this building over to a community group and the council put a number of barriers in place for that to happen.”

We previously reported that members of the community surrounding the centre had been calling for its demolition prior to the fire to prevent any further anti-social behaviour (ASB) incidents at the site.

The comments came after emergency services were called to the building on various occasions – including once in 2021 and as recently as August 26 –  over the past few years following reports it had been set alight.

Councillor Carey has since provided an update on the future of the site.

He added: “Going forward it’s going to be demolished and I have asked City Property to confirm a date with me as to when that will happen.”

Glasgow City Council and City Property have been contacted for comment.