Council Watcher
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I hope whoever is taking it over have a full building survey carried out first and don’t find they have signed up for a building liability because the Council have not even maintained the building to meet Health and Safety requirements. Speak to those involved with Splashmagic about the works they needed to do just to comply and get the door reopens on a building the Council left in ‘working order’.
Seek advice from other Centre Mangement that have taken over a Council property and make sure the Community Council will under right some of the ongoing costs.
Don’t take the word of the Council – its easy for them to pass a building over that then fails as it distances them from the closure.
Look how much work has been done before on Centres that are in the Wards of some Councillors that may have influence.They don’t need a board they need to borrow the ‘voting system’ that the Youth Service had — this is similar to the equipment used on TV– they spent a great deal on this and would be able to record every single vote — for, against and abstain.
Use what they have already at no cost.There does not appear to be a number on the Council website to report needles that are discarded but there is a form == https://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/env_services/service_requests/syringes.cfm
If I recollect correctly there was going to be a dedicated phone line for Councillors to use — I suggest that you bombard your Councillor everytime you spot one as they should be able to arrange for the removal.
http://moderngov.wrexham.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1
The other point about less discarded needles may be that the contract the Council have with Cais funded from the Council Enabling Grant scheme to supplement Streetscene may also be effective.
I agree the whole Clywedog trail is excellent but the Council closing the three buildings, Lead Mines, Bersham School Museum and Kins Mill jas taken so much away from the whole trail as a visitor attraction — very short-sighted
Many of the discarded needles are unused – the supply in multi packs is more than a user needs for a fix – the others are a waste — two issues. the extra cost is not necessary and then the discarding of needles from people who may not come down from a fix in the same location as they injected leaving dirty needles. This is one of the reasons why Arfon Jones as Police Commissioner is advocating for rooms tio be availabe for injecting.
Not ideal but moving users from injecting to inhaling or digesting substances us safer than needle discarded.
Minera Leadmines and Kingsmill are two examples of £100’s thousands of pounds of Lottery and Charity funding that was spent on ill thought out Council projects with no sustainability plans.
You would hope the Council would have learned a lesson yet the development of the new Arts Hub seems to have the same management philosophy — get the funding, praise and glory for the opening with plenty of PR followed by a few years of gradual decline due to mismanagement of budgets and grossly overestimated income streams that don’t materialise.
First you need to call both of your Council Members to account as they surely should be discussing the potential closure with all of the existing users. Cllr Joan Lowe as a Member of the Council Executive.
You need a FULL breakdown of all income and expenditure on the Centre that is externally verified as certain cists tend to creep in on Council budget lines that may not be applicable to this Centre.
This will not be the first time they have tried to close a building based on false information — take a look at Spalshmagic– £850k loss yet it will be three years in January for it to have survived.
You also need to check if any housing developer would benefit from this plot of land as access to a bigger plot – look beyond the obvious as income from land sales is crucial to this Councils plans.
Check with your Community Council about what information they are aware of that perhaps they haven’t shared either.
So are you saying Glyndwr should not operate in a business-like manner — surely they have an income that can only go so far so they need to maximise their resources – financial and human to be able to deliver the best quality Education to strict more students. More students equals more income equals more jobs
Very British British — suggest you pop along to the Foodbank — you will soon realize that most of the people are genuine without the basics of life and would be likely to have a TV never mind Sky. I do think though money management is crucial for some of the people.
