Council's cabinet won't approve decisions one-by-one as review of community buildings continues

Decisions about the community assets Peterborough City Council (PCC) is considering selling or repurposing won’t be made one-by-one by its cabinet, but members will “always see where we are” director of commercial partnerships, property and assets Simon Lewis has said.

Mr Lewis said this week that PCC “would like the ability to go at pace” with its assets review, in which the council has laid out options for 28 of the libraries, leisure facilities and children’s and community centres it owns.

He added that cabinet will receive update reports on the review every few months so no decisions will come out of the blue.

“If you look at the pace at which property transactions happen, even if we agreed something today, it wouldn’t be done within the next three-month cycle so cabinet will always see where we are,” Mr Lewis said.

His comments came as members of PCC’s growth, resources and communities scrutiny committee asked how often decisions about the assets would be discussed in public, including by themselves.

“I think if we try to approve by committee on every single one of the schemes we’re going to get a bit tied up,” he said, but added that they could also receive quarterly updates.

Executive Director for Corporate Services Cecilie Booth added that councillors could individually receive a monthly update report about the review.

Eye Youth Centre and Library should be considered a 'special case'

Councillors also asked that Eye Youth Centre and Library be looked at as a “special case”.

Cllr Steve Allen (Eye,Thorney and Newborough) asked that the centre be considered unique as it’s “slightly out of the way”, meaning it serves a particular rural community which would have greater difficulty travelling to other services.

Dale McKean, an Eye resident who launched a petition to save the building, also spoke at the meeting, telling PCC that there should be a “plan A and a plan B”, with the former being keeping it open and the latter being closing it and reinvesting the money saved into Manor Farm Community Centre.

Mr Lewis had said that feasibility tests are being undertaken around expanding Manor Farm to accommodate the services provided by Eye.

The assets currently under review will next be discussed by PCC’s cabinet, which meets on 12th February.