Future sports centre role is not guaranteed
A COMMUNITY organisation fighting to keep an active role in operating a centre used by more than 30,000 people last year has no guarantee it will be able to do so.
Calderdale Council’s Place Scrutiny Board considered the fate of the Threeways centre in Ovenden, Halifax, which includes a busy sports centre. Last summer the council issued a notice to take it back into its control from Centre at Threeways Ltd, amid concerns over the charity’s financial viability and health and safety issues.
In terms of financial viability the social enterprise detailed plans two years ago for a homes scheme on land at the back of the site would have funded work it says it and the council were aware needed doing, but the authority turned down the proposal, Centre at Threeways told Scrutiny Board in January when members asked for an updated report on the situation.
Now Scrutiny Board members have recommended to the council’s Cabinet that after the authority taking back control of the centre council officers be asked to consider options for the community to have a major role in running the sports centre part of Threeways.
But the resolution gave no guarantee Centre at Threeways would be considered. Centre directors believe the community company is delivering a very strong sports and leisure offer to the people of north Halifax and asked the council to allow them to keep doing this. But it had become clear there was not an option for this offer to be considered, said one of the centre’s directors, Lawrence Fear.
The council’s Director of Economy and Environment, Mark Thompson, said health and safety issues were the driver behind its actions and were paramount. Mr Fear said officers had given Centre at Threeways a list of health and safety issues and these had all been speedily dealt with.
Coun Roisin Cavanagh (Lab, Luddenden Foot) asked what the proposal’s implication was for the council. Mr Thompson said the problem was the lease as a whole could not be apportioned or divided. Centre at Threeways directors are concerned their asset would disappear as a result, if signed over.
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