Edinburgh Community Centre Lease Talks Collapse With Greyfriars Charteris Centre 2025

Key Points

• City of Edinburgh Council and Greyfriars Charteris Centre ended negotiations over a 10-year lease for the Braidwood Community Centre in Dumbiedykes without reaching an agreement.
• Talks stalled over who would cover structural maintenance and repair costs over £5,000 a year.
• Council officials pulled out after stating the charity altered its lease conditions from the original approved bid, creating an unfunded public cost.
• Greyfriars Charteris Centre leaders said council officials refused to review further drafts and tried to make the charity take on all financial liability.
• Dumbiedykes community activists backed the end of the deal, saying an external charity lease would remove direct resident control of the centre.

Edinburgh (Edinburgh Daily) September 25, 2026 – Formal negotiations between the City of Edinburgh Council and the Greyfriars Charteris Centre over the management of the long-closed Braidwood Community Centre in Dumbiedykes have broken down, leaving the facility’s future uncertain following a dispute regarding repair liabilities.

The social enterprise charity, which operates the nearby Greyfriars Charteris Centre on The Pleasance, was originally slated to take over the local property under a 10-year lease agreement at a peppercorn rent of £1 per year, following approval by local authority councillors in March 2024.

However, as reported by standard media outlets following statements released by both administrative authorities and charity representatives, the city council has officially walked away from the transaction after draft terms failed to reach an amicable standard.

Why Did the Lease Negotiations Collapse Between the Council and the Charity?

As reported by reporter Neil Pooran of The Herald, Daniel Fisher, chief executive of the Greyfriars Charteris Centre, stated that the crucial conflict during contract drafting was “the fact the council wanted us to be responsible for pretty much everything,” describing the local authority’s position as “ridiculous”.

The charity had submitted its original expression of interest for the Braidwood Centre in February 2023. During formal negotiations, Charteris proposed a financial compromise requesting that the local council absorb repair costs exceeding £5,000 in any single year of the agreement. Alternatively, the charity sought a break clause permitting them to terminate the lease contract if faced with substantial capital repair burdens or if the local authority failed to keep the building wind and watertight.

According to Daniel Fisher, council negotiators abruptly halted discussions rather than revising contract drafts. Speaking on the breakdown of the deal, Fisher stated to The Herald: “We were trying to negotiate the lease… and then they simply refused to do any more drafts. It did feel a bit like they were trying to bully us into accepting all the liability”. He further characterized the local authority’s sudden withdrawal as both “frustrating and a bit perplexing”.

How Did the City of Edinburgh Council Respond to the Breakdown?

As reported by The Herald, Councillor Val Walker, convener of the City of Edinburgh Council’s Culture and Communities Committee, stated that the terms requested by the charity diverged unacceptably from the original framework.

Explaining the local authority’s decision to withdraw, Councillor Walker stated: “Unfortunately, despite investing a great deal of time and effort and acting with a genuine desire to reach a favourable conclusion with the Charteris Centre, it has not been possible to agree the draft lease terms”.

She added: “The terms now proposed by the Charteris Centre no longer match their initial bid nor the terms that the Council’s Finance and Resources Committee approved at their meeting in March 2024. As a result, the Council has withdrawn from the negotiations”. Council officials noted that accommodating the £5,000 repair cap would create a significant, unfunded repairing liability for the local authority that was “too far removed from what was marketed”.

What Are Local Community Activists Saying About the Centre’s Ownership?

The breakdown of the agreement was viewed differently by grassroots organizers within the surrounding neighborhood. As reported by The Herald, local community activist Jim Slaven stated that transferring the building to an external social enterprise was not the correct resolution for the area.

Slaven expressed concerns that leasing the facility to an outside organization would have effectively “turned public space into private space,” depriving residents of direct oversight.

Detailing the history of the facility, Jim Slaven stated: “It was previously controlled by a management committee of residents on a voluntary basis. We should be having it as a community-run centre with residents running it – we’re not fools, we don’t need these missionaries helping us”.

Slaven emphasized that as a publicly owned asset, the council ought to consult Dumbiedykes residents directly: “The community should be the one making these decisions and at least involved in the process. We’ve been excluded – as a council-controlled building they should be involving the local community. They don’t need to give this building away”.

What Services Are Currently Operating in the Building?

Despite the Braidwood Centre remaining officially closed to general community group management, portions of the facility are currently in active use. Canongate Youth has been operating youth club services out of the premises following their displacement from the South Bridge Resource Centre, which is undergoing renovation to serve as the new headquarters for the Festival Fringe Society.

Prior to the breakdown, the Greyfriars Charteris Centre had planned to use venue rental revenue from private events to subsidize local activities, citing interest from external partners including NHS Lothian, The University of Edinburgh, and the Edinburgh Old Town Development Trust to offer services from the site.

Background of the Particular Development

The Braidwood Community Centre was historically managed directly by a local voluntary management committee comprised of neighborhood residents. Following the dissolution of the resident-led committee, the City of Edinburgh Council sought third-party operators to manage the property under its broader Community Centre Strategy.

In March 2023, expressions of interest were solicited for external social enterprises to take over venue operations. The Greyfriars Charteris Centre, operating as a non-profit social enterprise near The Pleasance, stepped forward with a proposal to manage the space.

In March 2024, the council’s Finance and Resources Committee formally approved a 10-year lease based on a nominal £1-a-year peppercorn rent structure. However, long-standing capital maintenance deficits across Edinburgh’s municipal estate caused negotiations to stall when formal contract language regarding structural repairs was drafted.

Prediction: How This Development Can Affect Dumbiedykes Residents and Local Organisations

The collapse of the lease agreement between the City of Edinburgh Council and the Greyfriars Charteris Centre will directly impact several key demographic groups in the short and long term:

• Local Residents and Community Groups: Dumbiedykes residents will continue to experience a lack of centralized public gathering space. The ongoing closure limits accessible facilities for neighborhood meetings, adult education, and grassroots social gatherings, leaving the area without a dedicated resident-led hub.
• Youth Service Beneficiaries: Youth organizations operating on temporary arrangements, such as Canongate Youth, face lingering uncertainty regarding their long-term tenancy while the local authority reassesses its property allocation strategy.
• Local Taxpayers and Public Services: The City of Edinburgh Council retains full financial responsibility for the maintenance, security, and standing upkeep of the Braidwood Centre property. Without an external leaseholder taking on operational costs, the local authority must either fund necessary capital repairs from constrained public budgets or remarket the venue on its property portfolio, potentially delaying the return of a fully operational community space.