![Community centre](/sites/www.esherwalton.com/files/styles/gallery_large/public/news-gallery/WhatsApp%20Image%202024-02-02%20at%2012.25.28.jpeg?itok=7Xs3tn6O)
Local community centres remain closed after Council slammed for unlawful practices.
In the lead up to Christmas, when hundreds of elderly and vulnerable residents were signed up to festive activities, the Council announced the sudden closure of centres across Elmbridge without much of an explanation beyond “health and safety concerns”. Several months later, normal service is still yet to resume and a full explanation regarding health and safety concerns is yet to be given.
It’s become apparent those “health and safety concerns” include the wrong medication being given to residents; vulnerable people being abandoned alone on external trips; elderly people breaking bones; sensitive bathing services being offered with no safeguarding; no fire evacuation plans or training in place, and dangerously low staff ratios.
Several months on, with some centres now open one day a week, I stopped by Molesey Centre to meet with residents and reassure them that I am fighting for the Council to restore the centres. I spoke to one gentleman in his 90s who was mostly blind and poor of hearing. He told me how the centre was his only lifeline – and the terrible impact having it ripped away from him for months has had. Now with just one day a week to see his friends and not feel alone, he told me he spent his week counting the days until I could come back to the centre for a few hours. He was angry, and I was heartbroken listening.
I will keep on fighting to get to the bottom of the failures and get the community centre back open. This includes as Chair of the Council’s scrutiny committee calling in the portfolio holder to the committee to answer questions. You can watch it here: https://elmbridge.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/840686
Until we get proper answers, what we do know is that a damning internal audit was carried out on Elmbridge community centres back in June 2020, which concluded “major improvement needed”. This was report was given to the people that run our council, the Lib Dems and resident association political groups. Despite several requests, they’ve refused to publish this report. But what is clear is that over the last nearly four years, action was not taken, resulting in the community centres now being in crisis after being run unlawfully.
I have been moved by the sheer scale of the community’s response to what the Lib Dem have done. This includes people who attend the Molesey Centre starting a petition which has already been signed by over 600 people. Please add your name to the petition below.
https://www.change.org/p/re-open-molesey-community-centre-monday-friday…