ANGER has greeted the news revealed by the Times last week that Okehampton?s Ockment Centre may be forced to close at the end of the year, leaving a huge gap in community services. Staff at the 13-year-old community centre say they have been touched by the tremendous support from the public who are launching a letter writing campaign to Devon County Council. Town mayor Tony Leech and West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox have also vowed to do all they can to save the centre from closure. The uncertain future of the centre arose from Devon County Council?s shock decision not to site a proposed new children?s centre at the Ockment, which would have given it viability into the next decade. Instead, the children?s centre will be sited at the new primary school when it is built in three years? time. Now in desperate need of maintenance, including a new roof, the Ockment Centre fears it will have to close because it cannot afford the £300,000-plus for repairs. Manager of the centre Lindsey Svensson said the owners of the building, Devon County Council, had not offered the trustees a ?substantial financial contribution? to enable them to continue running the centre, despite this claim to the Times last week. Mrs Svensson said staff were told in a letter from the council that it would undertake a review of outstanding building maintenance to consider what funding might be available. ?We have already had lots of reviews and reports, plans and surveys. It is too little, too late ? we cannot wait any longer.? She said the children?s centre would have brought in the level of funding needed but the Ockment Centre was not just about the children?s centre. ?This decision to site it somewhere else does not necessarily have to be the death of this place,? she said. She is urging people to write to the chief executive of Devon County Council and is starting a petition. ?People just want to do something to help. Last week after the article appeared people were coming up to me in Waitrose and offering their support. The response has been fantastic.? As well as providing a base for 225 community groups, computer training, a creche, new skills and training opportunities, Citizens Advice Bureau and Community Transport, the centre offers a low-cost meeting place and training rooms for various agencies, organisations and businesses, including the probation service. ?The reason why this is such a popular venue is that it is in the middle of Devon and the South West,? added Mrs Svensson. ?Some weeks we have 250 people in for training and they stay in hotels in the town and spend money in the shops.? Okehampton resident Emma Cunnington said the closure of the Ockment Centre would have a huge effect on her life: ?It is my lifeline because I do a computer course here and yoga and my 11-month-old son is just down the corridor in the creche and I know he is safe. ?The staff are brilliant and have been a big support to me in settling my son. It?s not just mums who benefit from this place. If it shuts it will have a huge social impact.? Other users who had suffered bereavement or mental health problems said the centre had been a ?lifesaver? and helped integrate them back into society. MP Geoffrey Cox said he was setting up a meeting with the county council and other involved parties to ?thrash out? the arguments. ?I am appalled by the way this has been handled and am anxiously seeking an explanation,? he said. ?What we need now is a guarantee from the county council that it will support the continued operation of the Ockment Centre even if the children?s centre is not going there.? l See Letters, page 4
