Help Shape the Future of Your Community Centre

Erewash residents are being urged to have their say on what they would like to see on offer at local community centres and halls as part of a wide-ranging review of facilities in the borough.

In a drive to ensure the centres and halls are well used, accessible to everyone and cater for the needs of all local people, Erewash Borough Council has launched an in-depth study – and wants local communities to get involved.

The Council’s Scrutiny Committee will be pulling together a review of the local facilities and the thoughts of local people and those who currently use the centres before developing recommendations and an action plan to take the centres forward.

Local residents are a key part in helping shape the future of the community centres and Scrutiny Committee members are keen to hear their ideas at any of its Community Centres Task and Finish Group meetings – the first of which was held at Long Eaton Town Hall in the Council Chamber on Thursday 9 October at 6.30pm.

Erewash Borough Council owns seven community centres that are overseen on a day-to-day basis by Community Associations, which are registered charities and depend heavily on volunteers to keep going.

Councillor Darren Adams-Shaw, chairman of Erewash Borough Council’s Scrutiny Committee, said: “Community Centres play a vital role in helping strengthen neighbourhoods – they can bring people together and undoubtedly go towards improving the well being of local people.

“Our centres currently provide some good facilities and activities, but we want to build on that and look at the best ways of taking them forward into the future. Our review will be a comprehensive one and will look at all the options that might be open to us, including investment opportunities.

“But, most importantly, we want to work with local people and to listen to what they want from their community centres. We need to look at how we can improve things and how we can make them accessible to all so we can encourage more people to use the facilities – we want to find out how we can get more people, of all ages, through the doors.”

Anyone who is interested in sharing their ideas and views or who would like to go along to a Scrutiny Committee Task and Finish Group meeting should contact Sue Blakeley, the Council’s Director of Development and Regulatory Services, on 0845 907 2244 or email sue.blakeley@erewash.gov.uk