Ferguslie Community Council is fighting to gain control of part of the Tannahill Centre.

Since 2006, the community wing at the Paisley-based hub has been run by Ferguslie Group, which owns the whole facility and employs 15 permanent staff.

But a request – supported by Councillor John McIntyre and Councillor Karen Kennedy – to hand the wing back to the community council was rejected by the group.

In a letter to the community council from the group’s chairwoman Christine Reilly, she stated: “Our view is that the community wing is currently well used by the wider community and to hand it to you to occupy and manage would reduce access for other well-established and successful groups.

“We believe that this would be a backward step as our figures show that most people in Ferguslie support the recent change in management and the resurgence of the Tannahill Centre.”

John McIntyre, chairman of Ferguslie Community Council, criticised the decision and said it was time to return the centre to the public.

He said: “We are trying to say ‘open this back up to us. Give us back our space.’

“We want it back. Not only do we want it back, we need it back.”

The Tannahill Centre was built during a regeneration of the area more than two decades ago to replace other community centres.

Mr McIntyre has said the community council is currently meeting in his back garden and needs a bigger space.

He added: “They say we can use the space but we need to pay for it. We want to be able to manage it because it belongs to the community and it was built for the community

“It was specifically built as a community wing to house what we are doing here.

“They have completely taken over the place. They own the whole building.

“We don’t want the whole building, we are quite happy for them to run their bits. All we are saying is look at the size of this organisation. It’s not six people any more. It’s about 100 people when you take into account all of the sub structures.”

Ferguslie Group offered the community council a small meeting room at the centre at a discounted rate of £1,350 for three evenings a week over 40 weeks.

However, Mr McIntyre said: “We have not got two ha’pennies to rub together.

“We have got a budget that we get from the council of £750. They’re not listening to us. We have not got any money.

“Why should organisations be charging community organisations who work in one of the most deprived areas in Scotland to run their own space?

“The ethos behind that space is the community. The key is in the word community centre.”

However, Ferguslie Group has insisted the centre already belongs to the community, as shown by its frequent use by members of the public.

Lynn McCulloch, the organisation’s chief executive, said the only way it would be able to return the wing to the community council is “to expel other groups.”

She added: “We are just not going to do that. I think the majority of people in Ferguslie Park are happy with the way it’s done just now.

“A recent survey showed the most popular thing in Ferguslie Park was the Tannahill Centre and five out of 10 of the most popular activities in the area were within the centre.

“We would like the community council to work with us on it, rather than take it over.”

Ms McCulloch also defended the pricing structure, adding: “For the last 20 years, community groups, as well as others, have had to pay a nominal amount for the use of the rooms.

“The community rate is much lower. We have offered to help them apply for funding.

“If they don’t pay, someone else does. The rooms don’t just exist on their own.”