Overhaul of council community services planned

Community services in a Surrey borough are due to be overhauled under plans to reach more people and move away from supporting only the elderly.

Elmbridge Borough Council has outlined plans to stop its meals on wheels service and hand over the running of its six community centres, among other measures.

The authority says one in nine of its residents is experiencing financial hardship but that its current community services help fewer than 1% of the Elmbridge population.

Cabinet member Gill Coates said the council would be moving away from a "buildings based" service.

"At the moment our services are entirely focused on the elderly and we know that about 11.7% of people in Elmbridge are vulnerable or in need of some support and that is across a different demographic," Coates told BBC Radio Surrey.

She said this included young people, unpaid carers, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, some without English as a first language, and working families.

Residents previously voiced concerns when the running of Thames Ditton Community Centre was handed over to Vital Village.

The council could reduce its spending on community services by £1m each year under the proposed changes, but said there would be initial investment to support the transition period.

Coates said the council would be "spending less but reaching more people".

"That's not to say that we're going to stop supporting those people, they will remain very much of what we're doing, but it's broadening and helping more."

Alex Munro, the rector at St Peter's Church in West Molesey, said there were "big gaps" in those being supported in the community.

The church and its partners offer support through homeless shelters, a foodbank and youth groups including working alongside the council.

"We're a last chance saloon for quite a lot of people," he said.

The plans are due to be decided by the council's cabinet later this month.

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