Last year saw a campaign waged by the Thames Ditton Residents Association and the Lib Dems to oppose the closure of the Ember Centre, currently housed at the Vera Fletcher Hall.
They whipped up a frenzy amongst the users of that centre as well as the local community. The trouble was there was never any plan to close the Centre!
Some might argue that this was cynical politics exploiting the very people the Ember Centre is there to serve, by spreading scurrilous rumours with little or no substance. The reality was and remains that the Ember Centre was never going to be closed.
As readers of this blog will know, the plan was to look at the possibility of relocating the centre to a less costly venue, if, and only if, another venue could provide a similar level of amenity. No such site could be identified. Therefore the considerable drain on the taxpayer for the most costly of our day centres has continued unabated.
After much further effort and in partnership with Surrey County Council, an alternative site has now been identified. The site is in need of considerable work to bring it up to the required standard. However that work will take place soon and will be undertaken by Surrey.
It is unfortunate that with the undertaking and commitment in place to do that, some of those Councillors spreading rumours of closure previously, have fallen into their own trap.
In essence they appear to have made themselves suspicious of the Elmbridge administration by virtue of their own amateur spin-doctoring. Desperate to have massively prescriptive measures inserted in high-level policy documents, many of them appear to believe there will be some effort not to provide that which it has always been the intention to provide, namely first class facilities for mature residents in the Dittons.
Fortunately the resistance to such a well intentioned plan is only partial and relates solely to the over-prescription and suspicion generated by the Thames Ditton Residents and Lib Dem Councillors. Save for that the plans are in theory agreed by all parties and the hope and expectation is that the Ember Centre will thrive in its new surroundings.
Once the plans have been finalised I will post more details of the new home of the Centre as well as the facilities it will boast.
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2 comments:
It is clear that some Tories are anti the Vera Fletcher Hall as they perceive a close connection with the Residents Association.
It ain't necessarily so.
Perhaps Tim will publish the consultation about the new location. Also a spreadsheet on costs versus savings.
I think 'Eclectic Cynic' has hit the nail on the head.
The Tory proposals, written explicitly in council documents, were to close the Ember Centre, full stop. They then fumbled along to propose St Helens, with very inferior facilities not nearly upt o the numbers involved.
I'll wager that the residents have little problem with transfer of the Centre to Thames Ditton Hall, which is large enough although the kitchen facilities are not nearly as good. The residents saved Thames ditton Hall from Surrey Tories' plans to sell it off for residential development, a few years ago.
, so a strengthening of the case for Thames Ditton Hall to remain open and used is no bad thing. he Tories have suggested closing some other Elmbridge Halls this past year...
Alogether, you're barking up the wrong tree, Tim - or perhaps just barking....
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