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Centre faces £7,000 bill
• THE present political administration frequently asserts its “increased support” for the voluntary sector.
However, what it fails to disclose are the plans to make community centres “cheaper and better”.
As from April next year it is proposed that all community centres will have to pay 20 per cent of the business rate. Until now the council had exercised its discretion and community centres did not have to pay.
The cost to community centres will be considerable – in our case more than £7,000 per year.
The council has already sent out demands for this year together with payment books in June but withdrew this following protests.
Since then there has been a deafening silence.
Secondly, pressure is being put on community centres to sign commercial leases which involve responsibility for all repairs.
Failure to sign a lease will, we have been threatened, result in withdrawal of the council’s annual grant. In addition, after two years, presumably in 2009, centres will have to find the cost of a commercial lease.
In our case this is in excess of £41,000 per year.
It was only after recourse to the Freedom of Information Act that the council agreed to let us see a copy of the “condition survey” of our properties.
Many community centres are in dire need of repair likely to cost many hundreds of thousands of pounds – in our case over £400,0000 in the next seven years.
Community centres are run by voluntary boards of directors/ trustees who receive no allowances or pay for their work.
Under company law they can be held personally financially liable if they make a “foolish” decision in running their centre.
Signing a commercial lease without knowing where the rent and repair money is coming from would, I suggest, be classified as extremely foolish.
Similarly it would be extremely foolish for directors to sign any lease without access to the council’s conditions survey.
I very much hope that Camden Council will think again but time is running out as many centres will be setting their 2008/9 and beyond budgets in the coming weeks..
MICK FARRANT
Chair,
Board of Directors
Queen’s Crescent Community Association Ltd
Ashdown Crescent
NW5
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