Apology over 10-year wait for East Barnwell Community Centre in Cambridge
By Siobhan Middleton
A councillor who led Cambridgeshire County Council when plans to refurbish a community centre were first drawn up has apologised for the 10-year delay.
Cllr Steve Count (Con, March North and Waldersey) told a council meeting that he thought the project to redevelop East Barnwell Community Centre had been finished.
“I was absolutely shocked and mortified when I found out the project had stalled,” he said.
“I am very saddened that this community, which needed a better community centre, did not get it 10 years ago. I want to apologise.”
The host of delays began when the county council decided that housing should be included in the refurbished site, which would have secured an income for the authority.
This was followed in 2015 by the offer of land from a nearby church, enabling expansion plans and another change of plans. The agreement with the church has since fallen through.
Council debates about whether to include offices on the site followed, and the most recent interruption was over whether to make a temporary relocation of the centre’s nursery permanent.
During last week’s strategy and resources committee meeting, it was agreed that the nursery, which has been on the current site since the 1990s, should be included as the plans are revived. A revised capital budget is due to be brought forward.
Cllr Alex Bulat (Lab, Abbey), in a written statement to the meeting, said: “When I became county councillor for Abbey in May 2021, I quickly realised this has been one of the most long-standing issues in my division.
“We are speaking about over a decade of promises and seemingly endless consultations for residents, while the site remains exactly the same - the same as it probably looked long before I was even born.
“From a community perspective, it is rather unacceptable a project can take this long, regardless of where it is in the county.”
Nicky Shepherd, CEO of the charity Abbey People, which runs the current community centre, described the current building as “not fit for purpose”.
Speaking after the meeting, she said: “There’s not much wifi, no AV equipment and the building, which was built in the 50s, is difficult to heat.
“The community was really on board with the original plans and these delays have just eroded trust.”
At the council meeting, Nicky referred to the “tsunami of need” in the Abbey area, which has seen the number of benefits claimants increase by 327 during the pandemic. It was the only ward in the city to become more deprived between 2015 and 2019.
The aim of the centre’s planned redevelopment is to have many important services, including a library, nursery and space for clubs, all located in one place.
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