Stour Centre work must be put on hold

Losing one’s job at any time is devastating but just now at this very time it will be terrifying and could lead to depression and mental health issues for those affected.

People have mortgages/rent to pay and families to feed and wondering how they will survive. Families may break up because of the enormous pressures.

I feel very much for those that are facing this prospect.

Given the number of businesses that have folded and people losing their jobs due to Covid-19, the chance of getting another job is now extremely remote.

Surely the council understands the dramatic effect closure will have on employees’ lives and consider to defer for one year the work to the Stour Centre.

Doing the work now surely is not of vital importance.

Deferral will save the jobs and lives of 115 people and give space for the economy to recover somewhat with the chance of increasing job opportunities. It also gives those that will be ultimately affected time to re-organise themselves for that inevitable day when they are made redundant.

The government is about job retention and creation and deferral would be in line with this.

Emma Wood and her team at the Ashford Leisure Trust (ALT) have done an incredible job over the years bringing on so many talented individuals through their bursaries for talented athletes.

I am very sad that ABC decided to bring in a private operator. Residents ask me if the council is able to find hundreds of millions to fund developments, why it cannot set aside money each year to keep our leisure centre as a publicly operated facility, as opposed to placing into private hands.

Outsourcing does not always deliver the results, as bringing our landscaping back in-house proved.

Cllr Winston Michael