Saturday, February 12, 2011

Anger over funds switch proposal

St Neots News and Crier - 10/02/2011 digital edition

What I don't understand about all this is so what. The funds for an Eynesbury Community Centre is only £60,000. The Town Council is looking to build this community centre on the other side of the railway with developer money. Hardly accessible for the residents of Eynesbury. Nor is it really a community hub for Eynesbury not being in Eynesbury at all.

Whilst the idea of spending the money on the community run Love's Farm centre could be seen as a good idea, making Town Council funds available for this project is whistling in the dark.

The plans, cost and funding needs to be looked into. I would be looking towards something like Jubilee Hall, a basic wooden community hall with no frills. The £340,000 from developers would allow this.

I can understand why Cllr van de Kerkhove wants the money to be allocated. This makes a statement of intention of providing a community centre for Eynesbury. If, as Cllr Chapman indicates, the money will be just sitting there, this will mean an argument can be had if the Love's Farm community association come looking for the Town Council for money.

Are the reasons behind all this political? The new Town Council East Ward, with one member, which covers Love's Farm could be the majority for the Conservatives if the Town Council election on 5th May 2011 are tight. There are scenarios where the Conservatives can only achieve a majority by winning the East Ward. The same could be said for the money being allocated to Eynesbury by the Liberal Democrats who need to win all 7 seats here.

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