Tears as community centres given a two-month deadline

VITAL SERVICES NEED TO AGREE NEW LEASES BY MID-DECEMBER - OR BUILDINGS COULD BE SOLD

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

NOTTINGHAM'S vital community centres have just two months left to make a decision on their future or risk their buildings being sold off by the city council.

Some of those running Nottingham’s network of lifeline services are said to have left a recent meeting with the city council “in tears” as they face making a crunch decision without knowing many crucial details.

The Post’s Protect Nottingham Community Centres campaign was launched in January to call for a radical change in the city council's approach to the vital services, which include everything from food banks and budgeting workshops to services for parents who have suffered baby loss and those with special needs and disabilities.

The authority had provided a subsidy of £600,000 a year to all its community centres combined and the council now wants to end these payments.

The authority previously said it wanted a “core offer” of community centres to remain and that it would be trying to move them off their current peppercorn rents and onto a market-level rent - which could have led to bills for some going from £10 to £30,000 a year.