Questions

SOWYC has many unanswered questions in relation to the future of Wanstead Youth Centre. Click on the claims below to see our questions

Claim: The building is old and requires a large amount of work to improve its condition. To renovate the building to a good standard would cost the Council upwards of £2.4m and take 18-24 months, during which time the building would need to be closed to the public.

SOWYC asks:

Will the Council provide a 12-month moratorium to enable the Council to meaningfully engage with centre users and to explore different funding options to secure the venue’s future?
Will the Council provide details of the various alternative sources of funding it has considered eg, Government grants, charitable donations and grants, such as the Lottery, including one-off revenue and capital grants? The Council claims it is one of the lowest-funded boroughs in London so surely exploring alternative funding streams (as other Councils do) would be a good idea.
Will the Council consider that the entire Centre would not necessarily have to be closed and the repair and refurbishment could be completed on a rolling basis allowing some elements of the Centre to remain open while works are carried out in other parts of the Centre?
Will the Council publish details of how much it has budgeted and spent on maintenance and repairs at the Centre since the survey conducted on behalf of the Council notes that there is a ‘backlog of routine maintenance’?

Claim: The Council currently subsidises the cost of private organisations renting Wanstead Youth Centre, at a cost of £86,000 every year and this could be used to fund key services for local residents

SOWYC asks:

Will Redbridge Council provide a detailed breakdown of how this figure has been calculated and how it compares to funding for other youth or community centres in the borough?
Will the Council provide details of how it monitors, evaluates and scrutinises the performance of Vision in relation to fulfilling its contractual requirements of managing the Leisure facilities for the Council and more specifically relating to Wanstead Youth Centre?
Why are the services being provided by private organisations at Wanstead Youth Centre for young people and the wider community not considered as key services for local residents?
Why did the Council stop providing Youth Service sessions for young people at Wanstead Youth Centre? Was this not considered a key service for local residents?
Will the Council acknowledge that private operators provide services for young people and the community at Wanstead Youth Centre because the Council itself does not?

Claim: Since 2010 the Council has lost over 60% of Government grant settlement funding ‘and so must invest its remaining funding wisely and prudently.’ The Council has also stated that it is investing ‘£14million in brand new community facilities for local people’ over the coming years and must make the ‘best use of our existing community facilities’?

SOWYC asks:

As an ‘existing community facility’ will the Council consider Wanstead Youth Centre a beneficiary of this £14million investment in community facilities for local people?
Will the Council acknowledge that while the investment in Wanstead Leisure Centre is welcomed by the community it does not provide the same accessibility as Wanstead Youth Centre and is therefore not a suitable alternative for many of the groups currently using it the Youth Centre?
What evidence can the Council provide to support its assertion that the new lido in Valentine’s Park will ‘cover its own costs’ ?

Claim: Business as usual will continue at Wanstead Youth Centre until the decision is taken at the Cabinet meeting in September

SOWYC asks:

Why did the Council ‘propose to close the Centre in May 2023’ prior to a meaningful consultation which contributed to some current users leaving the Centre and potential new users being put off by the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Centre? Several Centre hirers were unable to deal with the uncertainty as they were told in early 2023 that "WYC was closing by May 2023 to private hirers" and have subsequently moved to other venues including - Netball , Essex Juniors. More recently one of the major users of the Centre, Kids in Charge, has also confirmed that it too is relocating leaving the Centre with a further loss of income.
How is the Council mitigating the impact of these confirmed losses and potential other losses due to the uncertainty?
Why has Vision stopped running group exercises at the Centre?

Questions

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