Eye Youth Centre and Library could be kept open with government grants, Peterborough council leader says

A rural community centre and library could remain open in spite of plans to sell the buildings.

If government grant money can be found to support Eye Youth Centre and Library, the council could retain it, its leader has said, rather than moving its services elsewhere.

“Moving will definitely become plan B if we have the funding,” Cllr Mohammed Farooq (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted) said at a meeting this week. “If we have grants available, we’ll do it up.”

Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) cabinet agreed yesterday (Monday, 12th February) to change the wording of council staffs’ recommendation for the centre and library in its assets review documents to reflect this.

The council has drawn up a list of 28 community centres, libraries and leisure facilities it may repurpose or sell to save cash.

The recommendation for Eye initially said that it may be sold “for investment in Manor Farm Community Centre to enhance capacity and to enable services to relocate within the village”.

Dale McKean, who began a petition to keep Eye open, said it’s “good that the council has recognised there’s a plan A and a plan B”.

But the “key thing” now is to apply for grants that could help bring the buildings up to standard and keep them open, he added.

“I’ve had a couple of discussions with the council’s estate managers with regards to what’s needed to renovate the youth centre and library in Eye and, if plan B was to happen, what would be needed to facilitate the youth clubs and Brownies and Guides and library elsewhere,” he said.

Mr McKean, whose partner Lilian Muxlow has helped run youth clubs at Eye for 40 years, says that the historic community centre building has been “poorly maintained for many years”.

Built in 1855, it has poor ventilation and heating, he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), with single-glazed windows painted shut.

The building will need renovation grants, he said, as well as more qualified youth workers to secure its future.

Cllr John Howard (Peterborough First, Hargate and Hempsted) said that keeping it open is the council’s “priority”, but not guaranteed.

“We’re still looking at both options because ultimately we must make sure we make the best decision on the best provision and if that ends up being proven to be the other space, then we shouldn’t rule that out completely,” he told the LDRS.

“But, with the leader’s backing, the preference will be to look at plan A.”

More than 1,500 people signed Mr McKean’s petition calling on the council to keep Eye open and look for government grants to help do this.

Council leaders have said they’re pushing for a government ‘grant finder’ to be appointed within the organisation.