Centre closure puts money before people

As many people will be aware by now the full closure of the Stour Centre for one year for refurbishment was passed at full council on Thursday.

It was reported that Ashford Borough Council voted in favour of the closure. It must also be reported that seven of us, all Labour and Green Party councillors, did not, and that there were two abstentions, one from Ashford Independents and the other from Cllr Winston Michael.

Cllr Farrell (Lab) called for this meeting to be held in public and was supported by Labour and Green Party councillors but this was voted down.

During the meeting it became obvious to me that the decision was purely financial, with the closure leading to what was described as a “significant saving”.

In my opinion this significant saving is nothing for a council like ours when compared to the loss of livelihoods for more than 100 people currently working at the centre.

These people will now possibly be out of work, not paying taxes and, eventually, possibly claiming benefits.

Our first concern must be the wellbeing of those people, especially their mental health after months of economic uncertainty, and the effects on their families, but I also wonder, as Conservatives are so concerned about money, how much do they think that will all cost?

Further, the loss of the facilities for those who use it on referral from doctors was not taken into account. A suggestion was made that people could travel to Tenterden facilities, an expensive and time consuming journey obviously not available to many people living in Ashford. Public transport was mentioned as a solution to this, but only if considered viable, a phrase that I have come to understand to mean “profitable”.

It was also argued that complete closure of the centre meant that it could be reopened again “with a bang!”, an argument that seemed to jump straight out of Donald Trump’s approach to spectacle politics. Cllr Steven Campkin Green Party