Urgent meeting to discuss Newbuildings funding crisis

The association will have to drastically cut back on vital local amenities if it does not secure additional funding for the next financial year, says community worker Alison Wallace. It was expected a crunch meeting will now be scheduled between key funding stakeholders to address the need. The association has already been forced to let one member of staff go due to a lack of funds and it is feared it will have to further reduce its payroll if more funding is not made available. Said Ms Wallace ahead of yesterday's meeting: "We are facing a desperate situation. Derry City Council did give us some additional funding to help us but we need this to continue in the new financial year. We have already had to let one person go and if we don't receive funding we will have to let more staff go." DUP Alderman William Hay said it was time for actions not words and that funding for the community centre should be increased from 12,000 to 30,000 for the forthcoming financial year otherwise it would either have to close or cut back further on key programmes. He said the people of the village were grateful to the Council for approving emergency funding for the hub last year but that they would begin to ask questions about the local authorities attitude if its future was not secured. "There have been a number of meetings with a number of senior officers of the Council, with the association and myself and my party colleague Alderman Maurice Devenney and the officers know the seriousness of the situation," said Mr Hay. "I've warned that here is a large community centre being run by a community association that is doing a very professional job, providing added value, putting in place independent sources of revenue to make it sustainable but which is struggling because it does not have the financial support it needs," he said. "The Council needs to take action to give this centre the funding it needs. It has known about the situation for a long time and now it has a huge challenge to step up to the mark and increase the funding for the association from 12,000 to 30,000 and allow it to do what it has to do." A meeting of the Development Committee was yesterday advised of the desperate situation faced by the community association. A report to the committee stated: "In particular the Newbuildings Community Association has indicated it may have to drastically reduce its level of operation in the near future. "Clearly Council has already made its funding allocations by way of Service Level Agreements for the 2010/11 financial year. "In these circumstances I am proposing that an urgent meeting is convened with key funding stakeholders including WELB, DARD and DSD in relation to the future funding climate. "During these discussions I would propose that the issue of core funding is considered as a priority. Whilst considerable funding continues to be made available in programming terms ultimately this will not be deliverable unless the delivery organisations have some core funding to address their fixed costs." Staff at Newbuildings Community Centre were just under a year ago in celebratory mood as four new industrial units were opened in the village as part of an 800,000 plan to regenerate the area. But the cash-strapped community centre - which is seen as crucial to the village - has struggled financially since then and was forced to let one staff member go during last summer. Now local community workers and politicians have again warned that up to three more staff positions are in danger due to a lack of funding for services they believe are badly-needed among the local community.