Pensioners left isolated after senior citizens club shuts (From Southend Standard)

Disgusting, Basildon council spend thousands on other worthless projects, yet leave out seniors, out in the cold.

what has Blakey got to say about this?

This is unfortunate, but we told the club and others that use this facility two years ago that the council would be charging hire fees from April 2013. Until April 2011 we were hiring this out free of charge which was not in line with the rest of our facilities which are generally around £18 an hour.

So instead of just charging full rate from april 2011 we gave all the clubs two years to prepare, by bringing in the increase incrementally, ie £6 an hour from April 2011, £12 an hour from 2012 and £18 from 2013.

Unfortunately we cannot justify charging all other clubs and societies across the borough but not this one.

People will obviously criticise but there are not many councils left that even run day centres.

Should add that we hope the club gets a sponsor and can continue to run, and also add that the council has given this club hundreds of pounds in community grants in the past, and should they continue they would b e able to apply for that again.

The Echo is quite happy to publish the concerns of the aggrieved but fails to ask, and publish, the views of Basildon Council, forcing the council to respond via the comments section.
Lazy journalism, AGAIN.

emcee wrote:
The Echo is quite happy to publish the concerns of the aggrieved but fails to ask, and publish, the views of Basildon Council, forcing the council to respond via the comments section.
Lazy journalism, AGAIN.

Thanks for the comment.

In defence of the echo they have asked us for a comment that I would hope to see in the print edition, although it should be online too really as not all will see online.

Basildon Council Communications wrote:

emcee wrote:
The Echo is quite happy to publish the concerns of the aggrieved but fails to ask, and publish, the views of Basildon Council, forcing the council to respond via the comments section.
Lazy journalism, AGAIN.

Thanks for the comment.

In defence of the echo they have asked us for a comment that I would hope to see in the print edition, although it should be online too really as not all will see online.

Sorry not all will see the print edition.

Basildon Council Communications wrote:
Should add that we hope the club gets a sponsor and can continue to run, and also add that the council has given this club hundreds of pounds in community grants in the past, and should they continue they would b e able to apply for that again.

So you are going to charge them a fee, fair enough, and someone at the council will be paid to collect and process the fees. But the pensioners group can apply to the council for a grant to put towards these fees, which someone at the council will be paid to scrutinise and authorise.
Can you think of a way for the pensioners to end up in the same position, but for the council to save some money on the council wages bill.

Basildon Council Communications wrote:
This is unfortunate, but we told the club and others that use this facility two years ago that the council would be charging hire fees from April 2013. Until April 2011 we were hiring this out free of charge which was not in line with the rest of our facilities which are generally around £18 an hour.

So instead of just charging full rate from april 2011 we gave all the clubs two years to prepare, by bringing in the increase incrementally, ie £6 an hour from April 2011, £12 an hour from 2012 and £18 from 2013.

Unfortunately we cannot justify charging all other clubs and societies across the borough but not this one.

People will obviously criticise but there are not many councils left that even run day centres.

how many houses will be built on the site of the club?

Why should pensioners have somewhere to go and socialise. After all they have only paid into the tax and national insurance systems all their lives unlike others I could mention but if I did the happy clappy politically correct brigade would start up

They always got the pub in their final few stages on earth!

Basildon_Boy wrote:
They always got the pub in their final few stages on earth!

you getting the beers in!

Howard Chase wrote:

Basildon Council Communications wrote: This is unfortunate, but we told the club and others that use this facility two years ago that the council would be charging hire fees from April 2013. Until April 2011 we were hiring this out free of charge which was not in line with the rest of our facilities which are generally around £18 an hour. So instead of just charging full rate from april 2011 we gave all the clubs two years to prepare, by bringing in the increase incrementally, ie £6 an hour from April 2011, £12 an hour from 2012 and £18 from 2013. Unfortunately we cannot justify charging all other clubs and societies across the borough but not this one. People will obviously criticise but there are not many councils left that even run day centres.

how many houses will be built on the site of the club?

The social club is stopping, not the whole day centre.

Nebs wrote:

Basildon Council Communications wrote: Should add that we hope the club gets a sponsor and can continue to run, and also add that the council has given this club hundreds of pounds in community grants in the past, and should they continue they would b e able to apply for that again.

So you are going to charge them a fee, fair enough, and someone at the council will be paid to collect and process the fees. But the pensioners group can apply to the council for a grant to put towards these fees, which someone at the council will be paid to scrutinise and authorise. Can you think of a way for the pensioners to end up in the same position, but for the council to save some money on the council wages bill.

Can see what you are saying, but no-one is specifically employed just to collect fees from this day centre and the funding officer deals with hundreds of clubs and societies and lots of grants and community funding etc.

Basildon Council Communications wrote:

Howard Chase wrote:

Basildon Council Communications wrote: This is unfortunate, but we told the club and others that use this facility two years ago that the council would be charging hire fees from April 2013. Until April 2011 we were hiring this out free of charge which was not in line with the rest of our facilities which are generally around £18 an hour. So instead of just charging full rate from april 2011 we gave all the clubs two years to prepare, by bringing in the increase incrementally, ie £6 an hour from April 2011, £12 an hour from 2012 and £18 from 2013. Unfortunately we cannot justify charging all other clubs and societies across the borough but not this one. People will obviously criticise but there are not many councils left that even run day centres.

how many houses will be built on the site of the club?

The social club is stopping, not the whole day centre.

So have we got the guarantee of the Council that this facility will NOT be redevolped?

Although as it is north of the A127 in untouchable Billericay that's probably a rhetorical question