By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter, and George Palmer-Soady
There are fears charities supporting some of Nottingham’s most vulnerable people will have to fold if Nottingham City Council’s proposed cuts to community centre funding go through next year.
The Labour-run authority, which declared effective bankruptcy in November last year, is proposing to cut subsidies to maintain, repair and staff community centres by £613,000 from April next year.
There are currently 35 community centres across the city, which together deliver and host services such as food banks and mental health support groups.
However the council says it is facing a budget gap of more than £2m in the current financial year, rising to £69m from April 2025 and a cumulative £172m over the next three years.
Commissions are also overseeing improvements at the authority following their appointment by the Government in February, and they may use their powers to overrule elected councillors if they believe the required changes aren’t being delivered.
The precarious situation has left community leaders and volunteers fearing the worst for those who are most vulnerable.
Many of them joined demonstrators at a protest outside the city council’s offices, Loxley House, on Wednesday (December 4) before a Communities and Environment Scrutiny Committee meeting.
Carly Williams founded and runs the Zephyrs charity, which offers vital support to bereaved families.
The organisation runs sessions across many of the city’s community centres.
“These community centres are really important,” she said.
“People of all walks of life get supported through hiring these rooms and doing activities.
“It’s a space where people can go, and for us as a charity, it provides us with a room that we support people from.
“If that’s not there, that means people haven’t got a place to go. And lots of other charities that use those spaces for a really good and reasonable rent won’t be able to carry on.”
Lorraine Salt-Pulford runs the Versus Arthritis Self-Help Group at Sherwood Community Centre and fears for her group’s future.
The group runs regular classes offering support and social activities to local people living with arthritis.
“I don’t know what would happen if all of the groups at the community centre – never mind ours – were left with nowhere else to go,” she said.
“We have to fight to get on the booking calendar because it’s that busy and so many groups are interested in using the community centre.
“[If the plans went ahead] our members would be stuck at home and get further health conditions.
“I worry that things will go downhill and will hit other organisations and the NHS, and it sounds like if these plans go ahead, it’s going to be a downwards struggle.”
Louise Holland is a trustee at Sherwood Community Centre, which is run by the Sherwood Community Association.
As well as the Versus Arthritis Self-Help Group, the centre also hosts other groups such as ‘Knit-and-Natter and Alcoholics Anonymous.
She told Notts TV she fears the proposals would lump the group with repair bills of more than £100,000.
Volunteers and trustees of community centres attended a protest outside the city council’s offices, Loxley House, on Wednesday (December 4)
“Many people who come may have experienced domestic abuse, they may have mental health issues, they may be living in an area of poverty,” she said.
“The city council’s proposed plan to make community centres pay a commercial rent, we feel, will out-price many people who hire our centre.
“We’re being told we’ll have to pay out an extra £80k per year. We run our centre as volunteers and trustees freely.
“We work on a budget of around £80,000 per year – if we have to double that, it will mean many of our groups can’t afford to meet.
“They have a charitable rent as they may be unable to pay huge rents. We’re asking the council to please reconsider these commercial rents.
“If these services are stripped away – as many other services have been – it will affect many people facing crisis in their lives.”
The proposed plans would mean the council would seek to agree new leases for all community centres, including putting up rents from peppercorn rates of £10 a year to market rates.
During the meeting Colin Wilderspin, strategic director of communities at the council, said the authority could no longer support the community centres due to its financial difficulties.
He said the council had tried its hardest to reduce the impact and had already managed to avoid the total closure of all centres.
“Nobody wants to make these decisions but we have to look at that affordability,” he said.
“There is no statutory duty for us to have community centres. We cannot continue to do it the same way because we do not have that money.”
Mr Wilderspin said the council would encourage groups that could not afford to run the centres to submit business plans, through which they could provide evidence of the social value of their work and potentially decrease rents from market rates.
Finalised plans will be presented in the new year.
