Fears over closure of Sheerwater community centre

There are fears that a community centre on the Sheerwater estate could close, if a group or organisation cannot be found to take over the running of the building.

There is "nowhere for people to go" other than the Parkview Community Centre, which is "not being used to its full potential," residents say.

Woking Borough Council (WBC), which declared itself effectively bankrupt in June 2023, has been trying to hand over the running of community assets to charities or voluntary groups, as part of savings measures.

The portfolio holder for communities, councillor Steve Greentree, said if a community asset transfer (CAT) does not happen at Parkview, they will "explore alternative options."

Jenny, who has lived on the estate since it was first built after World War Two to house people being relocated from London, told BBC Radio Surrey that Parkview is "the only place on Sheerwater where people can come and meet and enjoy each other's company".

"Basically it's not being used to its full potential," she said.

"From little tots to grandmas and grandads, you know, they could use it for all sorts of projects."

The estate has high levels of poverty and deprivation, with a planned regeneration being impacted by the council's financial problems.

The chairman of the Sheerwater Residents Association, Steve Wilson, said the centre is "the last remaining thing that we have from a once thriving community, which has now pretty much been forgotten".

"Quite a few of my residents had suggested they thought it had already closed down," he said.

"It's not being used and it will close down under these circumstances if it's not taken over by someone who actually wants to do something with it."

Gerry Mitchell is working with the charity Foodwise, which wants to take over the community centre.

"We're all aware that we're sitting under this deadline of the council dissolving and becoming a unitary authority and I think we're worried in that transition that the process is going to come to a standstill and then the assets lost," she said.

Different community interest companies and groups have said they are interested in providing services from Parkview, if a group does come forward to run it.

Tahra Shah, who is a director at Angelic Network, which organises events like coffee mornings and runs IT and English classes, said: "All the programmes that we run around Woking, we can actually introduce them here as well, so that would benefit the community."

Resident Kerry Leggett told BBC Radio Surrey she had recently moved back to Sheerwater with her family.

"When I was growing up we had the community centre, we had social clubs at Parkview, we had play schemes, we had a pavilion, an athletics track," she said.

"At the moment there's nothing for people to do, there's nowhere for people to go and nobody knows anybody.

"That's not a community."

Greentree said there is currently one community organisation at the business case stage of the transfer process and the council "look forward to receiving their submission".

"The CAT programme has already delivered positive outcomes at both the The Vyne and St Mary's Centres for the Community, demonstrating the benefits of community-led management," he said.

"We understand the important role that Parkview plays in the local community and are working constructively to help the applicant with their submission.

"If a Community Asset Transfer is not progressed at Parkview, the council will explore alternative options, including continuing to operate the centre itself on a cost-neutral basis."

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