Anger over plans to close community centres
Article published: Sunday, February 28th 2010
The future of publicly-provided local community centres in Bury is in doubt following the leak of a confidential report. Discovery of the plans have led to the formation of campaign group Save Our Suite to defend the popular Longfield Suite, whose future may be decided next month amid accusations that Bury Council is ignoring residents.
The leaked report threw doubt on the survival of two of the four Bury Council-owned community centres, the Longfield and Radcliffe Suites. Although the Longfield is the most popular and profitable of the four civic centres in the borough, the plans stated “it is difficult to be confident that the suite has a viable long-term future.”
A spokesperson for the council said that “given that there are plans to develop the whole of the Longfield site, and Prestwich town centre, this is a good time to consider a range of alternative community uses.”
Save Our Suite campaigner Kevin Hodges disagrees. “The suite provides a valid community space. To deprive Prestwich of the Longfield Suite would be like ripping the heart and soul out of the community,” he said. Late last year around 300 local residents linked hands around the centre in protest to any threat to the suite.
The Conservative-controlled council claims that the Longfield cannot compete with other venues and recommends other uses are considered. Opponents on the council have contested this, as the Longfield Suite makes a trading surplus and its debt appears to come from Council-imposed charges.
“The suite makes a profit. It is only when the council adds on a bundle of central costs that it makes a loss” explained Liberal Democrat Councillor and chair of Prestwich’s Local Area Partnership, at a public meeting late last year.
The recharge of costs is a central administrative charge that covers all non-direct costs. These can include Human Resources, IT, payroll processing, general Council insurance and software licences among others.
While the council publicly stresses that no final decision will be made until a public consultation is completed, a £100,000 cut to the civic venue budget was passed by the Bury Council last week. Despite their insistence, this appears to be a step on the path towards closure before the public consultation is concluded.
In a month recommendations of the future of the suite will be made to the Council Executive by a so-called ‘Task and Finish’ group composed of unelected council officers. This has led opponents to argue that the democratic right of local residents to decide the course of redevelopments in their area is being sidelined.
“All we want is for the decision to go through process, involve elected representatives and allow people to have a say in their community centre,” claims Councillor D’Albert.
Hodges also criticised the Council, saying its actions were “not open and not transparent.”
The council is carrying out a consultation in the borough with a questionnaire consisting of 15 multiple choice questions, none of which however ask residents if they favour or oppose the closure of their community centres. The consultation is set to end on 1 March and has so far received 1,100 responses, in contrast to a petition to save the Longfield that gathered 7,000 signatures.
The low response to the official consultation echoes a previous consultation undertaken in autumn 2008 by the planning consultancy firm Urbed to gauge local enthusiasm for the Love Prestwich redevelopment plans. Of the 14,000 response forms delivered, only 459 were returned, yet some residents believe its findings are still being used to justifying the developments.
Campaigners are suspicious that the Council is seeking to close the Longfield in order to better the prospects of the Elizabethan Suite, based in Bury Town Hall. Although the Town Hall’s civic venue is less used and more in debt than the Longfield Suite, its central location makes it a popular haunt of local councillors.
The Task and Finish force is to report to the Council Executive on 31 March, on which same date a decision could be made.
Richard Goulding
More: Manchester, News
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