Camden New Journal - by DAN CARRIER Published: 04 October 2007
Mick Farrant
‘We’ll quit over red tape row’ – volunteers
Community Centre trustees to be liable for repairs
COMMUNITY centre volunteers are threatening to resign after being told they will be responsible for thousands of pounds worth of repairs under new leases proposed by the Town Hall.
New contracts have left trustees who run the centres liable to pay for crucial maintenance work and facing new rent levels based on what the buildings would get if they were let commercially.
A swathe of centre management boards are refusing to sign the agreement, and are threatening to walk away.
Queens Crescent community centre chairman Mick Farrant accused the Town Hall of attacking the voluntary sector to make good a Liberal Democration and Conservative coalition promise to freeze council tax.
He said: “By doing this, the Town Hall are ignoring the centre’s strong points – we are in the business of providing services for people, not running buildings. They are trying to crush the voluntary sector to save money.”
Mr Farrant added that centres had not been shown surveys the Town Hall commissioned on how much the buildings would be worth if rented out to businesses, and had also been denied the chance to look at what works needed to be done: “We are not going to sign the lease – we’d have to walk away instead. Our centre needs a lot of repairs and we would be putting our homes at risk if we signed the deals.”
Primrose Hill Community Association manager Mick Hudspeth, who runs the centre in a former factory in Hopkinsons Place, Fitzroy Road, said the idea of leases was not the problem – just what the deals on the table contained.
He said: “They are trying to impose a commercial-type lease which doesn’t sit comfortably with Community Centres.” He added the centre hoped to negotiate an acceptable contract with the Town Hall. He said: “There are several community centres taking legal advice to ensure we safeguard the future of Community Centres.”
Executive member for communities Conservative councillor Andrew Marshall said the leases were part of a plan to look at council-owned properties. He said: “We want to get the most out of our assets for the community. There are no plans to change our rent policies.”
A council spokesman said the new leases were being brought in as many centres had no formal agreements laying out their responsibilities.
They added that trustees should be aware of the responsibilities that come with their roles.
The spokesman said: “A number of Council owned community centres are occupied by community associations with no legal lease. “It is council policy that they should be on leases. The intention is to set out the rights of the council and our tenants, and clarify responsibility for the buildings. “It is not to impose unreasonable additional costs on the organisations and, as such, we have agreed to fund rent and buildings insurance for the first two years and deal with high priority building works.”
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