Peterborough City Council scraps plans to put Walton Community Centre under the hammer
Officials vow to put community interest first
Peterborough City Council has announced it has scrapped plans to sell a community centre at auction.
The Walton Community Centre, in Mountsteven Avenue, had been listed to go under hammer on May 1 with an asking price of £175,000 to 200,000.
The centre, which features 2,003 square feet of ground floor accommodation plus a garden and yard area at the front, was being advertised to be sold as Lot 64 at the Allsop’s online auction.
The move had sparked concerns from one councillor who said it was important to ensure the building was not just turned into another set of flats.
Now the council has pledged to look at a range of options to ensure any future use of the centre has local interests at heart.
Adrian Chapman, the council’s executive director for place and economy, said: “We understand residents may have concerns about the future of Walton Community Centre.
"We can confirm that the centre will not being going to Auction in May and instead, we will explore options for its use with local interest first.
He added: "The Community Centre is part of a wider review of council assets, which could be repurposed or released for sale to support the council's budget strategy."
Councillor Alexander Rafiq, who is one of the area’s representatives on the city council, said: “I’m really pleased at the council’s decision.
He said: “I’m hoping the building can become a second medical centre for the area but there is a lot of work to be done to get to that point.”
The Walton Community Centre was one of seven community buildings in Peterborough to be listed for sale by the council a year ago following a review of the local authority’s assets in the previous year.
The action had been prompted by the council’s need to use the cash that could be raised from the sale of its assets to reduce its £500 million debt.
In turn this would reduce the amount the council needed to take from its revenue budget, which is the money the authority uses to provide services.