Council cabinet to vote on £2 million works at Laindon centre - are they repaying a political debt?
By Charlie Ridler - Local Democracy Reporter 12th Mar 2023
A SUSPICION of impropriety hangs over the allocation of up to £2 million to continue the refurbishment of Laindon Community centre.
The state of the centre, its management and its ownership has been a point of local controversy for several years with rows between local residents, political parties and even internal council wrangling.
The centre became something of a battleground between Labour and Conservatives when the former were in control of the council and when the Conservatives regained control in 2021, it was reported that local community groups had worked with the Conservatives to run leaflet campaigns against Labour.
Not long after, control of the centre was returned to those in the Laindon community.
And it is now suggested that the improvement money likely to be rubber-stamped by the Tories later this week is another way of saying 'thank-you'.
In January this year, after the council sanctioned an independent review into what had happened over the centre, the investigator Melvin Kenyon, of Kenyon Brabrook, did not find the decision was "corrupt".
But he did say that the decision to hand a 25-year lease of The Laindon Community Centre to newly-registered charity the Laindon Community Centre "lacked transparency".
His report said: "There appears to have been no transparency in the decision to award the lease of the newly-refurbished centre to the newly-created charity. No effort appears to have been made to establish whether there were other organisations who might have been interested in running the community centre.
A later section read: "It is nevertheless difficult to conclude anything other than that the new administration and the 'Save the Laindon Community Centre' activists were in each other's debt and that the new arrangements helped settle those debts."
Basildon Council's cabinet will meet next week (March, 16 March) to vote on phase two of works at the centre, expected to cost £2,008,000, and that Morgan Sindall Property Services will be appointed to undertake the works if the plans are approved by the cabinet.
The work is set to include "significant" mechanical and electrical works, refurbishing meeting rooms, building changing rooms and creating a gym. Certain areas would be demolished and "extensive" works to roofs and walls would be involved.
At January's meeting council leader Cllr Andrew Baggot appeared to concede some failings in the process. Though he said the investigation had been 'thorough' he added that the council would always strive to be better.
Also read:
https://basildon.nub.news/news/local-news/laindon-centre-findings-put-to-councillors
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