A long-running Glasgow support centre is facing closure after a dispute over what it describes as significant rent hikes. Turning Point Scotland says the costs tied to its Tradeston base have moved beyond the funding available to keep the service running, putting a familiar point of contact for vulnerable people at risk.
The charity has worked in Glasgow for more than 30 years and says the centre receives over 1,000 referrals a year. Its work covers drug and alcohol support, alongside practical help for disabled people and those experiencing homelessness, often when life is already fairly difficult without a lease dispute added to the pile.
The wider backdrop remains grim. Scotland has the highest drug-death rate in Europe, while Glasgow continues to face some of the country’s most entrenched drug and alcohol harms. Pressure on local support services does not disappear simply because a building becomes more expensive.
What Turning Point Scotland Says Is At Risk In Tradeston
Turning Point Scotland runs services in Tradeston on behalf of local authorities and the Scottish Government. The charity says the disagreement centres on property costs, including rent and dilapidations, the charges a tenant can face when returning a building to its original agreed condition.
Those property liabilities are now at the heart of the row. Turning Point Scotland says the proposed costs are well beyond the funding provided to deliver its services and that accepting them would expose the charity to financial risk it cannot reasonably carry.
Neil Richardson, Turning Point Scotland’s chief executive, said the organisation has spent more than a year trying to reach a sustainable arrangement with its partners. He said service quality is not the issue; the unresolved question is whether a charity should be left responsible for costs that fall outside normal commissioning and service-funding arrangements.
That usually means the discussion has reached the stage where goodwill alone will not settle it. Put simply, the charity says the property bill no longer bears much relation to the money available for the work being delivered there.
Why The Glasgow Base Matters
This is not simply an office or an administrative base. Turning Point Scotland says its wider Glasgow work supports between 8,000 and 12,000 people at any one time, with more than 1,000 referrals each year coming through in the city.
Continuity can be crucial for someone in crisis. A known service, familiar staff and a place that is straightforward to reach can make a practical difference when people are dealing with addiction, poor health, housing insecurity or all three at once. Glasgow’s existing drug and alcohol services are already under sustained pressure.
Govan Law Centre has become involved through a Turning Point client who said the charity quite literally saved her life. The client is challenging the decision to impose commercial rent and lease terms, arguing that the approach was unlawful and discriminatory against disabled people.
The law centre says closure would have a grave impact on Glasgow. The wording is blunt, though the concern is clear enough: removing a service with this reach would create disruption for people who may have nowhere equally suitable to turn at short notice.
What Glasgow City Property And The Council Are Facing
Glasgow City Property manages the property portfolio involved in the dispute. Turning Point Scotland says it is being asked to meet rent increases that cannot be covered by the funding allocated to the service.
The matter has now reached the Court of Session through the client’s legal challenge. That adds a formal court process to negotiations that have already continued for more than a year, with no agreed solution yet in place.
Alcohol and drugs minister Maree Todd has said the Scottish Government cannot directly intervene in a contract dispute. She has nevertheless met Turning Point Scotland and Glasgow City Council in an effort to find a way through the impasse.
She has called for every reasonable option to be considered to protect the service and wrote to the council leader seeking a constructive resolution, including possible urgent independent mediation. The case also sits within a broader debate over how Scotland’s population projections may shape demand for health, housing and support services in the years ahead.
The Funding Picture Around Alcohol And Drug Services
The Scottish Government says its wider response includes record funding of more than £160 million in 2026–27 through its new Alcohol and Drugs Strategic Plan. A new Alcohol and Drugs Fund, worth £36.9 million, is also intended to support frontline organisations and services.
That investment is designed to bring more stability to alcohol and drug support, but it does not automatically settle a local property dispute. Funding for staff and services can be in place while the cost of keeping a suitable base open remains unresolved, which is a frustratingly familiar bit of public-sector maths.
For people relying on the Tradeston service, the argument is far less about contract language than whether a trusted support point remains available in Glasgow. The city is often a first stop for people exploring the country through a Scotland guide, but it is also home to communities who need reliable local services every day.
What Happens Next
- Turning Point Scotland says it is still pursuing an arrangement that keeps services protected.
- Glasgow City Council has been asked to help move the dispute toward a resolution.
- Independent mediation has been suggested as one possible way to break the deadlock.
- The Court of Session challenge means the dispute also has an active formal legal route.
For now, discussions have continued for more than a year without a settled outcome. That is an uncomfortable position for a service used by people who cannot simply pause their need for help while property negotiations roll on.
If no workable deal emerges, Tradeston could lose a centre that has been part of Glasgow’s support network for decades. In a city facing serious drug and alcohol pressures, replacing that capacity quickly would be difficult, expensive and far from guaranteed.
