residents have staged a protest after discovering plans to build a community centre are being thwarted by a 10ft strip of land.

Members of LoveMilton charity and volunteers said City Property, Glasgow, the council's arm's-length company, had put a £50,000 price tag on the strip of land.

The charity had previously bought a small patch of land for a nominal sum from Glasgow Housing Assoc­iation - but it is landlocked and the charity can't access it.

The 10ft strip the charity needs has been derelict for 15 years but is owned by City Property. The charity also claimed the council organisation threatened to put a big fence round the land.

Margaret Devaney, project manager of LoveMilton, said: "We don't have the funds (to buy the land).

"I asked how else we could get access and they said we couldn't. They said they could even put a big fence round and block it.

"So we are stuck."

Milton, an area with 7000 people, does not have a community centre. The local youth club is run out of a cabin next to the primary school and is attended by 75 children on Friday nights.

Mrs Devaney said: "Communities are meant to look nice and attractive for the people that live in them.

"Nobody is maintaining this. The fences have been pulled down and there is rubbish everywhere.

"LoveMilton plans to develop the site out of our own funds - it is not going to cost the local authority or the community any money."

Joe Clancy, 51, a volunteered with LoveMilton for five years, said: "For far too many years we have been ignored by Glasgow City Council. "We need to get something done now. That is why we are standing up."

Rebecca Barbour, 34, who also lives in the area, said it was "revolting" City Property had suggested it would refuse access to the land.

She said: "I want it to be an area to be proud of. I spoke to some children who were throwing rubbish around and I asked them not to do it. They said, 'It doesn't matter, this place is a dump anyway'."

Reverend Christopher Rowe, chairman of LoveMilton, said: "We have trained local people - 135 got health and safety, and first aid qualifications, and we have been building smaller projects around the community.

"But until we build this big project, people are not going to be satisfied and I do not blame them."

A spokesman for City Property said: "City Property, acting on behalf of Glasgow City Council, is in negotiations with Love­Milton about the possible acquisition of council land.

"LoveMilton is proposing to develop a community centre on a neighbouring parcel of ground that is landlocked, so it needs the land from the council to form an access and parking for the centre.

"Negotiations are continuing and there has been no decision to block access to the land or erect a fence.

"Indeed, City Property was trying to protect Love­Milton's position by stressing the importance of regularising access arrangements before any development commences."

sarah.cooper@eveningtimes.co.uk