Dudley Council confirms Lye Community Project office closure

The Lye Community Project (LCP) office will be formally closed for good when it is handed back to its owners after the lease expires on March 9 2025.

The office has been closed since the first Covid lockdown in March 2020 and the council confirmed it will not renew the lease on the High Street premises.

The decision was made by Dudley’s director of adult social care, Matt Bowsher after consultation with the council’s cabinet member for adult social care, Councillor Andrea Goddard.

A council memorandum confirming the decision said: “Staff associated with the project have retired or moved on, and some vacant posts became redundant and are no longer in the structure.

“Two further posts associated with LCP have been agreed for efficiency savings in the current year 2024.”

Although the council will have to foot the bill for returning the building to the state it was in when it moved in, a process called dilapidation, there will be vital savings associated with the closure.

The council expects to save a total of £108,000 each year which includes the reduction of two jobs – a saving of £89,000.

Officers from the adult social care team had been in negotiations with other departments to examine the possibility of using the office for other purposes but agreement could not be reached on how the estimated £19,100 in costs for the current financial year would be paid.

The centre closed at the start of the pandemic because it is not suited to social distancing, and reopening would have required significant upgrades, including the installation of a ventilation system.

The centre provided a variety of services, including social care and onward referrals for people to get advice on matters including housing, immigration, domestic violence advice, welfare, benefits, general health and well-being and honour-based violence.

By the end of Covid restrictions, new ways of working and service delivery from other contact points meant the LCP was no longer required.