ONE of two community centres set for closure has been saved while the other has been handed a stay of execution.

It is the second time the city council has changed its mind over the future of St Ann's Community Centre. The centre's only tenant, Teen+, which caters for young adults with severe learning difficulties, is to move to Inch House, in Inch Park.

However, younger children with similar problems, currently housed in Panmure House in Lochend Close, will now move in.

Instead of selling off St Ann's, the council has decided to dispose of Panmure House and 30 Albany Street, a property which the children also used. The council also plans to sell 19 Chester Street and move Gingerbread, a charitable organisation supporting single parent families, to the former janitor's house at Tollcross Primary School.

Caroleanne Parker, project manager at Gingerbread, which runs seven after-school clubs, said: "We will have to close down one after-school club. But they will just transfer to one of our other clubs – Gingerbread at Tollcross. We were only told a few months ago that the council was selling it and we would have to move to another place."

The council expects to make £2 million from the three property deals – more than the £1.6m it had originally hoped to recoup from the sales of St Ann's and Riddles Court. Part of the proceeds will be spent on refurbishing St Ann's and Inch House.

It still hopes to sell Riddles Court, but as yet has not been able to find a new city centre home for its tenants, the Workers Educational Association (WEA), which runs adult learning classes. Joyce Connon, Scottish secretary of the WEA, said: "They've given us some suggestions but they're not council properties and have not been suitable."

Riddles Court and St Ann's were among the four community centres and 22 schools put forward for closure by the council in August. That consultation was ditched in the face of intense public outcry.

Talks were held over selling the properties to EDI, the council's development agency, but then stalled in the face of opposition from Teen+, the WEA, and the award-winning Fringe theatre group Diverse Attractions, which is also based at Riddles Court.

Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, the city's education leader said:
"I am absolutely delighted that the move to St Ann's will now mean that the centre can expand and provide an improved service to these young people."

Jane Ansell, director of SLEEP Scotland, which runs Teen+ said: "The most crucial thing for us is that our young people have a smooth transition."