Public meeting held to explain changes to Guilsfield Community Centre

VILLAGERS are being urged to have their say in a consultation that could see the dawning of a new era for a community centre.

On Monday night, February 1, nearly 40 people logged into an online public meeting organised by the trustees of Guilsfield Community Centre.

Trust chairman, Trevor Trevor, and secretary Malcolm Graham explained the proposal.

They believe that Guilsfield Community Centre Trust should be run by two sub-committees which would have trustees and representative of clubs that use the facilities on them.

One would run the centre and the other outside land.

The consultation started on Thursday, January 14 and will run until Sunday, February 14.

Powys County Councillor for Guilsfield, Cllr David Jones, said:

“This has stalled for the last 10 years for various problems, but we’re now in the position where we can go forward again.

“I would urge everyone to get behind it, support the agreement, and make these views known to Malcolm Graham so that they can be forwarded to the Charity Commission.

“The community centre has had to tread water for the last 10 years.

“Now that we have a possible solution let’s grab it and move forward so that the village can grow and use these exceptional facilities.”

The issues surrounding the community centre have come to a head after Guilsfield Community Council vice-chairman, Cllr Glynne Turner, who has effectively been managing the centre since 2018, said that he would be stepping down from the role at the end of March 2021.

This has prompted a series of meetings over how the centre and associated land can be administered in the future.

Mr Trevor added:

“Standing still is not an option and something must be done.”

“This is a genuine consultation, not a tick the box to show you’ve done it, we want to do this properly.

“I want to know if your happy, and if someone is unhappy, I really want to know.

“Because the more we can tell the charity commission and show numbers of both positive and negative comments the better.”

He encouraged people to write in with their views

The centre is part of Guilsfield  Community Primary School, is owned by Powys County Council, and is leased to the trustees.

But, wrangling over decisions made in the past, including questions over land ownership, saw the community centre face closure three years ago, before Guilsfield Community Council (GCC) stepped in to help out.

This way forward would regularise the ownership and control of the property through a process with the Charity Commission.