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Community worker Des Riley outside Islington Link Up |
‘Rent rise won’t shut us down’ pledge
A CAMPAIGNER has warned that a huge planned rent increase at Finsbury Park’s only Afro-Caribbean centre could put the project at risk.
Islington Link Up, which has been operating on a peppercorn rent from a council property in Seven Sisters Road for seven years, has been told it could face a rise of up to £18,000.
Volunteer community worker Des Riley said: “How can we find this money? At the moment we have to beg, steal or borrow. We pay for bills by organising small events.” But he vowed: “We’re not closing this place down.”
He wants Islington Council to give Link Up sufficient funds to cover the rent, which could then be reclaimed from central government.
Mr Riley added: “We address any concerns the Afro-Caribbean community may have – advice, employments, crime prevention.”
Last night Labour councillor Phil Kelly urged the council to reconsider the rent increase.
“It’s not an organisation we can afford to lose,” he said.
Lib Dem finance chief Councillor John Gilbert said the council was reviewing all voluntary organisations’ rents in the autumn.
This could mean an end to peppercorn rents.
The Town Hall would try to balance this with extra funding to organisations considered most valuable.
Cllr Gilbert said the council had a lot of sympathy for Link Up. “But we have to rationalise the way we let the voluntary sector occupy property that belongs to the council,” he added. |
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