A petition containing 1,583 signatories was submitted to the Council on 29 March 2018. In accordance with the provisions of the Council’s Constitution, it was requested by the lead petitioner that the petition be reported to, and debated at, a full Council meeting. The petition reads as follows:

We the undersigned petition The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to ensure that redevelopment plans for the York Road area include a replacement community centre

Details can be viewed on the link below: http://petitions.rbwm.gov.uk/save-the-centre/

The Constitution provides for a maximum time of 30 minutes to debate such petitions; this can be overruled at the Mayor’s discretion.

In accordance with the Constitution, the order of speaking shall be as follows:

Members noted that a petition containing 1,583 signatories had been submitted to the Council on 29 March 2018. In accordance with the provisions of the Council’s Constitution, it was requested by the lead petitioner that the petition be reported to, and debated at, a full Council meeting. The petition read as follows:

We the undersigned petition The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to ensure that redevelopment plans for the York Road area include a replacement community centre

Russell O’Keefe, Executive Director, introduced the petition. He explained that the petition asked the council to ensure redevelopment plans included a replacement community centre. The current centre operated a range of community services from the building in York Road that was leased to the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS). The council was negotiating with RVS over the surrender of the lease. Subject to agreement, the community centre would be part of the Phase 2 redevelopment. Discussions were ongoing with the centre and others over future provision.

Dean Yorke, on behalf of the lead petitioner, addressed the meeting. Mr Yorke explained that he was a volunteer trustee. He thanked all those in attendance and who had offered support. The centre provided many services and was a valuable asset to the town centre. The King George VI Club had originally been built by public subscription and opened by the Queen in 1957. Approximately 10 years ago it had been taken over by RVS. Six months after Mr Yorke had become a volunteer in the office, RVS had announced it would close the centre. RVS had then agreed to allow Mr Yorke, along with Jack Douglas and Simon Chan, to run the centre as volunteer trustees from January 2017 under the new name of Maidenhead Community Centre. The centre included a fantastic café run by a volunteer chef cooking lunches for £5 for two courses. The centre was a great meeting point, particularly for elderly groups. Function rooms were hired out the majority of the time and funded the upkeep of the centre. Activities included yoga, martial arts and church groups.

The case had been put for a new centre when the redevelopment plans were announced for York Road. The petition had attracted over 1500 signatures; Mr Yorke thanked the local community for signing and sharing the petition. He thanked the Managing Director of the RBWM Property for her communications on the issue and Councillor Hill for his advice and support. It was important that the centre remained in the town centre; the elderly would not be able to use the centre if it were not on one of the bus routes. Many customers also worked in the town centre and used the centre at evenings and lunchtimes. With the likely increase in housing in the town centre as a result of the redevelopment it was important the council took the opportunity to work with people showing a fantastic community spirit.

Councillor Hill, Ward Councillor, thanked Cllr D Evans for reacting to the petition and producing an accompanying report. Mr Yorke had clearly stated the case for keeping the centre; with 1583 signatures it was clearly something the public supported. The centre provided many and varied activities and was busy between 9am-10pm each day and part of the weekend. It provided some of the lowest cost food in the town. Loneliness was a critical issue in society and the centre provided a very important role in addressing this problem. Councillor Hill proposed the following motion, which was seconded by Councillor Jones:

‘This council agrees to either keep the existing York Road Community Centre, or as part of the central Maidenhead regeneration re-establish the York Road Community Centre in a new building so it can perform all its current activities, allow for planned expansion and still be easily accessible to all current and future users’

Councillor Hill referred to the Manifesto Tracker to Cabinet in March 2017 that included the commitment to ‘create a vibrant and lively town centre with space for community facilities and entertainment offers’. This was the manifesto of the Conservative and Unionist Party; there was no ‘unionist’ in demolishing and not re-providing the community centre.  The loss of the community centre may be seen as asset stripping of the Oldfield ward to generate large amount of cash that would end up in the pockets of developers. The community of Oldfield would be deprived of its rightful heritage. There was no better way to spend the receipts from Oldfield ward than a fit for purpose community facility and cultural space.

Councillor D Wilson, Ward Councillor, commented that for many years he had been a council representative on the management committee of the King George VI club for the elderly, until RVS took over. He was aware of the huge amount of work undertaken at the centre, which provided a vital resource for anyone wishing to meet their friends. He was supportive of the petition, particularly given the number of signatories. He had been disappointed with Councillor Hill’s preamble in relation to the way the development was going, almost alarming residents as to what was going to happen as part of any redevelopment proposal. This was an ideal opportunity to retain the facility. As Oldfield ward councillor he would have liked the opportunity to have seconded the motion.

Councillor Brimacombe commented that the centre was a fantastic facility. The devil was in the detail therefore he requested reassurances on three critical  issues:

·         Capacity for today and tomorrow

·         Continuity of operation

·         Central location

Councillor Dudley stated it was essential that redevelopment did not squeeze out community facilities and that they were future-proofed. He thanked the lead petitioner and Councillor Hill for their work in bringing the issue forward. The borough was negotiating for the surrender of the lease. It would be unfortunate if RVS decided to take the money and use it to do good work elsewhere. This could leave the unfortunate situation that borough council tax payers would lose the value and have to reinvest to create a community facility. Councillor Dudley proposed an amended motion; as Council Leader he agreed there was an absolute need to re-provide the community facility. He gave assurances in relation to the three areas Councillor Brimacombe had raised in that the plans needed to be future proofed, continuity should be seamless and the new centre would be in an appropriate central location. He would write to the Chief Executive of RVS to highlight the number of petition signatures and encourage RVS to reinvest the proceeds from the surrender of the lease in Maidenhead.

Members noted the proposed amendment:

That this Council agrees as part of the York Road redevelopment to re-establish the Maidenhead Community Centre in a new purpose-built building(or part of a building) so it can perform all its current activities.

Councillor Stretton commented that she had toured the building. She had been amazed at how quickly the trustees had made the centre so busy and provided so many good activities. She sincerely hoped the council did not propose that the Desborough Theatre would be able to cover the variety of events as it was not a suitable space, for example for the storage of equipment. It would also be impossible without conflicting with current users.

Councillor D. Evans thanked the volunteer trustees for their time. He had been impressed with what they had picked up when RVS pulled out. The centre was well-used in the day and evenings and played an important role in addressing loneliness in the elderly. He was absolutely committed as part of the regeneration of Maidenhead that it was not just about providing much needed homes for people to get on the property ladder but also a cultural and community centre for all. The plans that have been developed had this at the heart. As part of discussions, increased use if the Desborough Suite facilities had been considered and investment was planned as part of the community offer. The council was committed to having a community facility that was in the centre of Maidenhead. He agreed with the three critical issues raised by Councillor Brimacombe. He encouraged the trustees to continue to work with borough officers to bring the project forward and ensure a cultural and community heart to the redevelopment.

Councillor Dudley commented that he wished for it to be minuted that the new facility should be future-proofed in terms of its business plan, that there should be continuity of service, and be in a central location to the town. The proposed recommendation referred to ‘part of building’ as one option would be for the facility to be on the ground floor of a larger building, such as was proposed for the Heritage Centre.

Councillor Hill stated that he was happy to accept the amended motion put forward by Councillor Dudley.

It was proposed by Councillor Dudley, seconded by Councillor Hill and:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:  That this Council agrees as part of the York Road redevelopment to re-establish the Maidenhead Community Centre in a new purpose-built building (or part of a building) so it can perform all its current activities.