Blakenall community centre plan: U-turn on project sparks row
A second community centre will not be built in Blakenall, after the ruling Labour group backtracked on plans.
In the build up to the local elections earlier this year the group had pledged to redevelop the old Dartmouth House into a community centre, despite the current Ryecroft community hub located less than a minute away.
It sparked a huge row with the pledge being branded a 'false promise' that 'cannot possibly be viable', but Labour stood by the plans saying a second community centre was needed.
Now cabinet member and Blakenall Councillor Ian Robertson has confirmed that 'things have moved on' and that Labour is no longer looking to build the new centre.
He explained how Labour had wanted the second centre as there was doubt over the future of The Cottage, a building in Blakenall which provided services for the elderly community including meals and bingo.
But now Walsall Housing Group has agreed to renew the lease meaning these services are no longer under threat. The new centre would have replaced these services if the lease was not renewed
Councillor Robertson said: "Things have moved on since that leaflet went round as WHG have agreed to renew the lease on The Cottage.
This means that the services we thought would be lost will not be and so we will not need to build a new centre on the former Dartmouth House land.
That land is going out on the market soon and hopefully a developer will come in and build homes on there.
"We have around 90 elderly residents in that community so it is important that the services at The Cottage were kept or replicated somewhere else."
Blakenall resident and former independent councillor Pete Smith said it was 'welcome news' that the land for the former Dartmouth House could become homes, and reiterated his point from several months ago that a second community centre 'never made sense'.
He told the Express & Star: "Their pledge was untrue electioneering, in my opinion.
"With The Cottage and the community hub all within a close proximity to each other there was never a need for a new community centre. It never made sense.
"I have been pressing for bungalows to be built on the former Dartmouth House site so this is welcome news if it does go ahead.
"There are lots of elderly residents in the area currently living in three/four bedroom homes who would definitely move to bungalows if it allowed them to remain in the area."
