Campaigner says closure of adult education centres is 'devastating for a lot of people'

DECISION BLAMED ON CHANGES TO GRANT CONDITIONS AND REDUCED GOVT FUNDING

- By JON COOPER Local democracy reporter

A DERBYSHIRE protester who has been part of a campaign which attracted more than 700 signatures on a petition to save a learning hub has described a council decision to withdraw services from the centre and four others as “devastating”.

Derbyshire County Council recently announced that adult education services are no longer to be run from five centres, including Der-byshire Eco Centre, near Wirks-worth, which has been at the heart of acampaign, as well as Ashbourne Adult Education Centre, Long Eaton’s Community House, Mat-lock’s The Ritz and the Shire-brook Adult — Education Centre.

The Reform UK-con-trolled council says the decision was made due to rapid changes to “grant conditions” and reduced funding from the Government no longer supporting courses run from the centres, as well as the council's need to sustain remaining adult education services.

Campaigner Roger Jack son said: “We have just focused on really trying to do something about the Eco Centre so there is a group that has got together to put proposals to the council about the future of the Eco Centre and we are working on that in a practical way.

“Obviously, it’s devastating for a lot of people who have been using the Adult Education Centres for a lot of years and benefiting greatly from it but we are just trying to be practical about it in terms of the Eco Cen-tre which is what quite a few of others came together around as well as the other centres. It’s devastating that it's closures.’

Derbyshire Eco Centre, in Porter Lane, provided environmental “sustainability learning” but campaigners suspected its closure was a “fait accompli” after the council previously said no staff or courses would be present at the hub from the end of July. Subsequently, campaigners descended on Derbyshire County Council’s County Hall in July in a bid to keep the learning hub open.