People 'will be lost' if community centre is sold

Community centre users have said they "will be lost" if a council goes ahead with plans to sell the facility.

Members of the Newcomen Community Resident Association say unless they can raise the funds to buy Westmorland Road Community Centre in Redcar by July, they could end up losing it.

Angela Draper, from the Monday Lunch Club, said: "It's a lifeline for most people, if they didn't have this place to come to they would have nowhere to go to."

A Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council spokesperson said: "Ideally we would like to keep this and other buildings across the borough, but we face an unprecedented challenge to balance our budget."

Ms Draper said coming to the community centre helps improve the mental health of its users and without it they "would be lost".

Janet Stimson, from The Crafty So-and-Sos group, said during the Covid-19 lockdown she felt isolated and lacking in confidence.

She said her friends have also suffered from varying degrees of mental health issues and using the community centre has helped them to gain confidence and self worth.

Meanwhile, association trustee Billy Wells said: "We can't plan anything because we don't know what our future is.

"We've got people asking for bookings, we've got spaces available to book, but we can't promise anybody any time because we don't know we're going be here."

He said the ideal solution would be to try and buy the "proper community" venue and added local people want the association to start fundraising.

Councillor Carrie Richardson said that as the trustees have expressed an interest in buying the centre, she will be looking to help facilitate the avenue they decide to follow.

The council spokesperson said: "We are working with the various groups that rent the space from the Residents Association so they can continue and we will offer the lunch club another suitable venue."

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