Cllr Cal Johnston‑Dempsey

What is a Community Asset Transfer (CAT)?

Community Asset Transfers let local community groups take on publicly owned land or buildings and use them for the benefit of their area. You can apply if you believe your group could make better use of a property that a public authority owns. This could mean leasing it, managing it, or buying it. The aim is to help communities run activities, services and spaces that matter to local people. More info is available here.

Do you support this CAT?

Unfortunately, while this might be the most obvious question you have for me, it’s also the question I am legally prohibited from answering. Community Asset Transfers are what is known as “quasi-judicial matters”, i.e. not political. When councillors take decisions on these matters, they are legally required to assess the facts and evidence as presented at committee and come to a decision in line with the law, not politics. If I formed or expressed an opinion on this matter before it came to committee, I would be legally required to declare an interest and recuse myself from being part of the discussion or decision. For avoidance of doubt, no answer to any of these questions should be taken as a statement of personal support or opposition to a CAT on this site.

Is this CAT a foregone conclusion?

No, all community organisations have the right to request that public bodies such as councils transfer assets they hold for community use. There is then a formal process of consideration. In South Lanarkshire, this ultimately ends in a decision for or against being taken by Councillors at the relevant Area Committee. Uddingston Shinty Club have not yet submitted a proposed CAT as they are formulating the specifics, in order to ensure it best suits the community’s needs and wants.

Is this putting public assets in private hands?

No, Uddingston Shinty Club is not a private company; it is a SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation). This is a form of registered charity in Scotland. Its charity registration number is SC054520. Its charitable purposes, as registered with the charity regulator, are:

• “the advancement of public participation in sport”,
• “the provision of recreational facilities, or the organisation of recreational activities, with the object of improving the conditions of life for the persons for whom the facilities or activities are primarily intended”

If this development is needed, why can’t the council do it?

While I strongly support publicly owned sports facilities, these are expensive to build, operate and maintain. Charities are able to access many public or charitable funding sources that are not open to the council.

The best example of this locally is Bothwell Futures, who were able to pair small local donations, enterprise revenue and matched funding from national sources to save the derelict Bothwell Library building and turn it into a true community asset.

Examples of funding sources the shinty club may be able to access that the council could not are:

• Youth development funding from national sporting bodies such as Sport Scotland or the Scottish Football Association.
• The National Lottery Community Fund.
• Grants from large national businesses such as the ScottishPower Foundation, Scotmid Co-op Community Grants, the Bank of Scotland Foundation, or the Arnold Clark Gear Up for Sport Community Fund.
• Cultural funding from Bòrd na Gàidhlig
• Other specific schemes from agencies of the Scottish and UK governments.

The Labour-run council in South Lanarkshire have also allowed sports facilities to close or fall into a poor state in many places across the authority area. They have made it clear they do not wish to be in the business of providing public sports. Just look at the former SLLC Sports Centre within Uddingston Grammar, or the poor state of Hamilton Water Palace. Even if it were financially feasible, this is not something they would be in favour of.

Will it just be sold off for housing once it’s transferred?

No, land sold for community use has standard wording in the contract that allows the council the right of first refusal, to repossess the land if the CAT beneficiaries wish to dispose of it.

The consultation is very one-sided, why is the council trying to sway this one way?

This consultation is not run by the council. It is being run by the shinty club in order to inform the proposal they will put in to the council. It is natural that a consultation run by an organisation looking to do something is in favour of the general idea of that thing. There is no statutory obligation on the club to run a pre-application consultation, and whether you support the idea or not, I hope you can appreciate them trying to ensure whatever they ask the council for is as close to the wider public’s needs and wants as possible.

What will the community get out of this?

A requirement of any CAT is that the community receives benefit from the new owners/lessees having control of the asset. With halls (for example), a CAT applicant could commit to reduced-rate public space hire.

The clearest possible community benefit of a Porterswell CAT would be improving the state of the existing playing fields for use by other local sports teams and by Uddingston Grammar School. The fields currently experience severe waterlogging, which limits their use by the school. They often have to organise buses to other South Lanarkshire schools for UGS school sports. This creates a cost not just for the transport but through Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deals signed by the council many years ago, where, in order to use our own council facilities, we must pay a private company.

Current advice from the SFA, Sport Scotland, and other sporting bodies is that pitches should not be used for more than 8 hours of organised play per week in order to maintain quality. This same restriction does not apply to synthetic pitches. If Uddingston Shinty Club were successful in receiving funding to upgrade part of Porterswell to a 4G/5G synthetic pitch, this would allow the school to avoid its current costs in transport and PFI, and would allow greater school sports opportunities. UGS Parent Council minutes from March 2026 note that they “were supportive of this initiative”.

I am very aware that past CATs have not materialised the benefit that was claimed. I will ensure there are clear commitments to the legally-required public benefit in any CAT that I may vote in favour of in the future.

Can’t the shinty club continue playing where they are?

They currently play at the Stepps Playing Fields owned by Strathclyde University. They previously ground-shared with another team even further away in Yoker.

As the majority of their players and coaches are based in Uddingston, this is obviously not ideal and they would like to play in their home town. This is also an opportunity to bring teams from across Scotland to our wee part of the country.

They do currently practice in Porterswell. They also previously had pre-season training at Uddingston Rugby and Hockey Club but this was found to be inappropriate as it would leave the field in an unsuitable condition.

What impact will the development have on wildlife?

Climate Lanarkshire is already engaged to ensure there would be minimal impact on wildlife from any development. I have also received assurances from SLC officers that our Countryside Rangers service will be involved as respondents to any council-run consultation on this development once specifics are known and submitted to the council.

How would vehicles access the site?

An agreement would be sought with the council for use of the school car park during school closing times. I am aware there is an illustrative concept of the development which includes a car park. Having spoken to the proposed applicants, I have been assured that this was included in error by someone who created *an* idea for *a* development, not the one they necessarily will submit. Any such car park would be subject to planning regulations.

Will there be fences put up around the site?

The preliminary plans do not show or mention any fencing. The erection of any such fence would likely be subject to planning controls. This would be completely separate from the CAT process.