Posted April 8, 2014

I was able to re arrange my work schedule for tonight and as a result managed to get to the public meeting at Willenhall CHART concerning the closure of Pool Hayes CA. Around 35 people attended the meeting.

I had spent most of the day in discussions with various officers of Walsall Council with a view to trying to find a way forward. This is proving to be very difficult as the Trustees have already taken the decision to close the CA. They have written to Walsall Council to this effect and begun the process of making the staff redundant.

As a result of this I have today asked for an assessment as to the effects of that on the local community as the CA delivers £57,153 of services either directly or through sub contracts through the various user groups.

In fact Walsall Council has not cut what it gives to Community Associations unlike some other Local Authorities. In fact Pool Hayes had an extra £1,570 allocated for services to older people plus the Willenhall Area Partnership had granted some of its funding to help the CA to deliver on 6 new projects designed to help some of the most needy in our community.

I have also called for a report to determine the added value that Pool Hayes CA may or may not have attracted from the funding it had been given.

In these times of austerity it is more and more important that the voluntary sector to which Pool Hayes CA belongs, uses its funding to help attract further funding through grants from organisations such as the National Lottery in order to make what money we do have go further.

I have also asked if it is possible to identify other organisations who may be able to deliver services to the local community in order that the £57K worth of services that the CA should have delivered is not lost to the people of Willenhall.

One of the obvious candidates for this would be Willenhall CHART though having said that Labour Councillor Sean Coughlan appeared to rule this out when he told the meeting that Willenhall CHART did not want the funding as they weren’t in competition with Pool Hayes CA which does seem a bit like cutting your nose off to spite your face.

There was criticism of the actions of the school who had found it necessary to increase the rent that they charge Pool Hayes CA for the use of the site. They weren’t at the meeting to defend themselves. Faced with falling pupil numbers they would have seen their budgets reduced. Furthermore, their budget is for the education of the pupils and can’t be used to subsidise Pool Hayes CA. Both bodies are autonomous and over which the Council has no jurisdiction.

Where next? We await the reports I have requested – after which it is hoped to bring all sides back around the table.