Sheffield community centres are fighting to stay open after the council announced they can no longer fund all the properties they own across the city<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheffield City Council will start by reviewing 22 community buildings, inspecting their potential use for the future, their condition, and the cost of running them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fiona Milne, a member of the Friends Of Birley Spa, an affected building, said: \u201cWe are trying to be optimistic, but our experience over the last few years has taught us to be cautious, very cautious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The community centre started a campaign to save the Spa in 2018, but the building has deteriorated considerably since then, making restoration more complex and expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said: \u201cOur commitment to the site has not altered. It is a beautiful, unique and important building that should never have been left to get in the state that it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Milne believes that Birley Spa has the potential to be a fantastic green hub for mental health and wellbeing, for education and nature, for their community, their children and grandchildren.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can only hope that finally the Spa’s true purpose will be realised and the council can see that we deserve to stay open.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a council meeting on funding, Councillor Terry Fox said: \u201cReview doesn’t mean they will definitely close. This review is about making sure we have facilities across the city to be able to provide good quality services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, Rachael A Brown, a chairwoman of Waterthorpe Community Tenants and Residents Association, another affected community centre, said: \u201cWe will fight and campaign to keep our community building going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said their centre is going strong, thriving and is always very popular within their local area. It is used daily by the community and has regular members who rely on the building for their everyday needs. For many of them it is the “only time” they leave their house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms Brown said: \u201cWe strongly believe that our community building is a vital part of the community it serves. And we fully intend to keep doing what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said she would be distraught if the centre had to close and she knows many others would be absolutely devastated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The council has said no final decision on any building has been made. They need to assess which buildings are supporting the local community, and which sadly, may not be fit for purpose anymore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sheffield community centres are fighting to stay open after Sheffield City Council Review to close them down. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":668,"featured_media":58166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[415,21,1],"tags":[64,15,38,141,131],"class_list":["post-58125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news","category-uncategorised","tag-charity","tag-news","tag-sheffield","tag-sheffield-city-council","tag-south-yorkshire"],"yoast_head":"\n