Packed protest meeting hears Luton Council were “unaware there was a NHS facility at Bushmead.”

120 protestors packed into Bushmead Community Centre on Wednesday night to show their opposition to Council plans for closure by the end of July.

Organised by community group “Everything Bushmead,” the meeting heard Councillor Rachel Hopkins put forward the Town Hall position that four out of the town’s community centres had to close to save money in a complex financial arrangement involving the Luton Culture and London Luton Airport Ltd.

Local residents lined up to express their dismay that the Centre should be mothballed given its thriving nursery, new £40,000 NHS Physiotherapy Unit and popular recreational programme enjoyed by 48,000 people last year.  

That dismay turned to anger when it was revealed that during negotiations with Luton Culture to identify the centres for closure, the Council were unaware that the NHS facility existed.

Organiser for Everything Bushmead Kathryn Knights commented “as the Council didn’t do its homework and failed to get an up-to-date appraisal of the extensive facilities at the Centre, it was in no position to offer them up for closure.”

“We feel that community centres provide exceptional value-for-money in in providing valuable services to meet the needs of vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and those seeking NHS advice and mobility therapies on their doorstep.”

The meeting voted unanimously to set up their own Commission of Enquiry into the closures, working together with groups fighting similar closures in Limbury, Marsh Farm, Raynham Way and Park Town. Drawing on professional expertise and help from across the community, their independent action plan will give Centre users a voice, look at alternative management models and identify ways of making the facility run with increased income and efficiency.

Says Kathryn: “If difficult financial decisions have to be made, then it is important that the criteria for such decisions is made clear. In the coming consultation period, both the Council and Luton Culture need to be completely open and transparent in their dealings with community groups.”

“We think the solution offered to Farley Community Centre – a stay of execution for two years as future options are examined – should be offered to all four threatened centres. The Town Hall are showing signs of looking for a more flexible solution and besides – no Labour Council surely wants to give up a new £40,000 NHS facility, now it knows it exists …..”