A social care enterprise has been accused of abusing its partnership with St Mirren to develop ‘secret’ plans for a wellbeing centre in Ferguslie Park.
Kibble – which cares for children with complex needs at sites across Renfrewshire – wants to build a £13.4 million wellbeing hub next to the SMiSA Stadium.
But it has this week been revealed the organisation – who asked the Scottish Government for £2m to get the initiative off the ground – claimed the St Mirren FC Charitable Foundation had involvement in the project.
The foundation – which supports hundreds of Paisley families with emotional and practical help every year – had no knowledge of the scheme or it being named as a lead partner in the application to the regeneration capital grant fund (RCGF).
Kibble, which has a 27 per cent stake in the majority fan-owned Saints, made the application for funding in partnership with Renfrewshire Council.
The local authority stated in the proposal that land, owned by the club, had already been identified for the wellbeing centre and the sale was proceeding.
All three organisations have since said the area identified in the proposals “showed an indicative area only” and was not the confirmed location.
None have explained why the proposal states the sale of land had been agreed.
Paisley North councillor Kenny MacLaren reckons the whole thing stinks and said: “Kibble have used the reputation of St Mirren FC Foundation to make this scheme look like a partnership, to help with their grant application.
“It has been a dodgy move by Kibble who have been using another organisation’s names without their permission.
“They have failed to be open, clear and transparent about any of this. I would have concerns that an organisation that acts like this can access public money. They need to come clean on the whole process.
“They say this is dead in the water but if this is to be resurrected, I would want a lot more detail about what exactly is being proposed.”
St Mirren FC Charitable Foundation only became aware of its named involvement in the scheme when it passed the first stage of the application process.
Its board then decided to proceed with the proposal on the basis it may be of benefit to the local area and its work to support disadvantaged children. The application did not get past the second round.
In a statement issued by St Mirren, the club said it was never expected to offer its land for sale but admitted it had never been consulted over the proposals before the application for government cash was made.
It added: “Given the need to align other stakeholders, a meeting with the charitable foundation took place, and subsequently the charitable foundation board agreed to support the Stage 2 application for RCGF funding, given the complementary nature of the establishment of a wellbeing centre in the area.”
A spokesman for Kibble failed to explain why the foundation was named as a lead partner in the application without prior knowledge and how land owned by the club had been identified as the location for the proposed hub.
He added: “We made a very early-stage, exploratory funding application to Renfrewshire Council for a much-needed wellbeing centre on one of the many vacant, derelict sites in the Ferguslie Park area.
“The unfortunate error on the part of the council in shading an area of land next to the stadium in its application documentation has led to ill-informed speculation, which has since been clarified.
“There are several potentially suitable derelict sites in the area and we would discuss our proposals in further detail with the relevant landowners if the project progresses to that stage.”
A Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said the application was submitted using information supplied by Kibble. He said: “Officers provided a supporting addendum to the grant funding application which marked an area of land based on our discussions with Kibble for context only, so this was not a mistake.
“This showed an indicative area only. The funding application itself did not specify an exact location – had it been successful, the exact detail and location would have been decided at a later date, as part of a wider masterplan for the area, and through any subsequent planning application. The funding application relied on information provided by Kibble.”
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