Local MP Maria Miller saw first-hand on Monday how Community Centres across the town are pulling together to support Westside Community Centre following its 'no notice' closure on Wednesday afternoon after engineer reports identified RAAC in the construction of the 1960s building. Westside is currently the only Community Centre in the County to have closures because of RAAC.
Maria said, "Last week community centres and voluntary groups from across Basingstoke offered help and support to Westside following the closure of its Community Centre in South Ham. In a matter of hours some crucial services like the Community Pantry and older people's support were back up and running with help from the Ridgeway Centre and local churches. The pre-school will shortly relocate to Russell Howard Pavilion as soon as full safety measures have been put in place.
"Hampshire County Council and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council are right to put safety first and their assessment was that the RAAC present in the Community Centre at Westside could be a danger and needed further investigation by specialist engineers. Now we need to make sure the Community Centre services can continue to operate as best they can, to provide continued support to families, children, and older residents in South Ham.
"I held a meeting with the Westside Community Centre Managers, Hampshire County Council and BVA on Friday to confirm the action that is needed to help displaced services move into new accommodation, and particularly to ask for coordination of the survey and building works for the Community Centre which is both owned by Hampshire and Basingstoke Councils. The Centre also needs support regarding its lost income from renting out its rooms to local groups and clubs.
"The Community Centre and the pre-school's staff and volunteers have gone above and beyond, working around the clock to get their services back up and running in new venues. We owe them all a huge debt of gratitude for what they have done, and they deserve our full support to ensure this closure, which is no fault of the Community Centre, doesn’t stop essential support to the South Ham Community.
After visiting Westside Community Centre on Friday afternoon, Maria dropped into the Ridgeway Centre and Russell Howard Pavilion on Monday where many of the services have moved temporarily to talk to staff and service users about the disruption.
