A CALL has gone out to "energise" the town into putting its full weight behind a new community centre. Having been given the go-ahead by East Hampshire District Council for a £2.5m new build, active public support is now needed to ensure the town gets "what it needs and wants". That was the message at Monday's Alton Community Association (ACA) AGM. It was pointed out that five years ago when the community centre was in danger of closing because of the state of the building an extraordinary general meeting had attracted a 150-strong crowd, but now the town had been thrown a new-build lifeline there was a danger that people would sink into complacency. Founder member Luath Grant Ferguson told colleagues: "We need to be much more mobile in getting the town behind us, in switching the town on." It was an upbeat meeting after a 'roller-coaster' year when ACA worked hard to turn a £40k deficit into almost break-even. ACA treasurer Graham de Neiderhausern said the turnaround had been brought about by dealing with those areas of centre business that were haemorrhaging money. Some of the Leisure Learning programme had been cut because it was costing more to run than it was actually bringing in, both the cafe and bar had been franchised out, and a restructuring in staff levels and wages had also led to a reduction in expenditure. While this had made a big difference, Mr de Neiderhausern was keen to stress the importance of volunteer grants that accounted for 20 per cent of the annual turnover and without which the centre could not survive. The year 2006/07 had been a particularly difficult one, according to ACA chairman, Pat Lerew, but a change in management and a shake-up in the way the centre operated had produced results. "This time last year we were dealing with an employment tribunal application from our previous manager which took up a great deal of the trustee's time," pointed out Mrs Lerew. In the event the application had been withdrawn three days before it was due in court – which came as a great relief to all concerned. The ACA now employs a specialist adviser on personnel and health and safety matters. The role of centre manager has been successfully taken on by Maria Elliott, with Marie Nottridge as her deputy. In the early part of 2007 the centre had been hit by a series of maintenance problems, mostly caused by changes to legislation for village halls and community centres concerning electrical and fire regulations. Faced with an ailing building and bills of thousands of pounds ACA had to go cap-in-hand to centre owner, EHDC, which came up trumps with emergency funding. The next bomb to hit came in the form of the Noise Abatement Act. The success of the community centre as a young people's music venue was causing noise problems for neighbours and EHDC called the premises' licence in for review. Unable to afford soundproofing, the decision was made to move all live music to the Garden Room and to use the hall for functions where recorded music is played or where no music is involved. This has worked. Things were quiet on the new building front during 2006 due to intervention by the Environment Agency concerning the flood plain on which the existing centre and adjacent car park sit. A new plan was offered and rejected because it meant the centre being part of a block of flats. Instead a vote was taken to go with a refurbishment project. Then, out of the blue, a compromise was reached with the Environment Agency and a £2.5 million independent newbuild was back on the cards – another public consultation was held and the offer got the thumbs up. One of the key considerations was that ACA activities could continue in the existing building while the new centre was under construction. While ACA has been rejoicing at the news, trustees are still in the dark over where exactly in the car park the new centre will be built, the size of its footprint, and what will happen to the old building. There is a question also over wider involvement. ACA is keen to push for more imaginative use of the new building. Organisations such as Holybourne Theatre have been interested in becoming involved and the group forms part of ongoing discussions over the way forward. In urging town's people to support the newbuild project, Mr de Neiderhausern expressed the views of fellow ACA members: "We need to find a way of getting people to use the new building – we should be asking for more, rather than accepting less."
