Community Centre Meeting

Pic: Community Centre for Warrenpoint Facebook

Here is a short summary of the public meeting held in the Balmoral during the week to push for the establishment of a community centre for Warrenpoint.

• a number of attendees expressed concern at the lack of information being provided by the Council as to the work in progress to secure a community centre. They felt that the community was being kept "in the dark".

• The council representatives said that they have been working hard on our behalf to make the community centre happen.

• Council has been advocating a community "hub" to incorporate other public services such as the library, health services and police call in centre in the one building.

• it was stated that without the involvement of these services it would be unlikely that the provision of a community centre would go ahead.

• Council alone would not be able to fund a community centre.

• the concern was that there would be fight for "footage" - dedicated space for community activities - if other services were vying for space in the location.

• Warrenpoint is a "big small town" and therefore does not qualify for funding e.g. rural regeneration.

• a show of hands by all who attended supported the police station as an ideal location for a community centre.

• there was unanimous support by all the political representatives who attended for Warrenpoint's call for a community centre.

• a senior member of our community suggested a "self build" proposal were the community as a whole with all it's skills and talents do it themselves. He suggested The Plats stating that this is already council owned property.

• it is essential to have a focused group or committee to advocate, on behalf of us all, on all stages of the process - site selection, community requirements, operations.

• there must be a substantive plan in place as to the community's requirements - who will use/need the community centre? what purpose will it serve? Who will run it? how much will be required to finance it's operation?

• there must substantive plan on the location, planning and development of a centre.

• specifically in relation to the police station, there was concern that the location might be lost to private buyers if more is not done to secure the location.

The good news is a group was formed to push this issue. We should all give them as much support as possible.

This will benefit of us all and the generations in Warrenpoint to come!