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Westloats Lane Community Centre could become a Grace Church — local concerns raised, answers needed
by Jan Cosgrove, Editor
The future of Westloats Lane Community Centre appears to be under question as talk by its Trustees with The Grace Church in Chichester have been held.
The plans appear to include that it would be registered as a church, though Chris Hoff, one of the trustees, insists that the centre will continue as before, but run by the Church. Currently the church is one of the users of the centre, paying hire fees as do the others who includes a martial arts provider.
I have had correspondence with Chris and also have sent an email to Grace Church asking questions to which I have not yet had a reply. The concerns raised by me, and others, revolve around issues such as, would such an arrangement allow e.g. a gay group to hire the centre, or indeed, another faith group, eg Islam. Mr Hoff described this concern as ‘ridiculous’.
It also appears that one of the motivations for this move from the Trustees is that the current 4 wish to quit. I am aware of 5 people known and based in this Town, not myself, who are keen and willing to take on that role, so one has posed the question, if the current 4 wish to go, then should they lock in new trustees to such a decision?
Mr Hoff has claimed that all bar one of the current hirers favour such a move, or at least have no problem with it. But the one that has has been playing an important role and has shared concerns with me, particularly about the possible conflict of interest between a charitable community centre and a church.
When I told him that I have the names of 5 local people who want to take on the role, his reply is “not needed”. So one asks, is he planning that the church would provide the new trustees?
The original constitution of the site goes back to 1938, when it was Bognor Boys Club, and a youth purpose was there from the outset. In 1941, a lease was granted handing over ownership from the old Bognor Urban District Council to the Boys Club. In 2009, the current constitution was brought in, and to my surprise, whilst community benefit is mentioned, youth interests are not. So typical in this Town, in my experience, that even before cuts started to plague the local youth provision, the trustees then opted out and the area has been denied such a facility until the launch of The Phoenix Centre — however, that is now up for disposal with no guarantee that the proposed Capital Asset Transfer from West Sussex will allow such youth activities there. Do our kids count?
One has to ask whether Grace Church would use its position running the centre as a church, to proselytise people to its congregation. That includes vulnerable children, youth and adults.
It’s also the case that they are Councillors at Town, Arun and County level who are concerned — I have spoken with ones involved in the area covered and there is unhappiness at the proposal much for the same reasons given above.
Of course, another reason for the trustees move is that Grace Church has a lot of money, to March 31st last year its turnover was £468,000, and one understands that the church may have discussed improvements to the premises, maybe £100,000.
As this situation has developed, I have been in contact with not only Mr Hoff but also others, including Philipa Dart at Arun Council because it appears that land owned by Arun adjacent to the club premises could be used for social housing, much in need and demand in the town and area. I asked whether Arun might be interested in eg offering a site for a new centre on a small part of the recreation ground opposite, including multi-use games area (MUGA) at the rear.
It’s relevant perhaps that Arun is working with Littlehampton Town Council to build a brand-new community centre at Eldon Way, Wick on the site of the current centre, and that £250,000 has been allocated for this. Such a swap would allow Arun to build new homes on the current site to join those planned. She has responded that this is not currently in the Council’s view but is happy to hear more.
One other possibility is that, were the Phoenix Centre just down the road next to the Regis School campus, to go to non-youth purposes, such an new centre at Westloats could, as of old, house that activity. Given that County received lottery My Space funding to build the Phoenix, that might suggest a joint project.
There is to be a community meeting, we are told, in March when proposals will be put forward. But Mr Hoff seems in his correspondence with me to have rather have it “all sorted out” However, a local source has told me, someone who knows the centre well, that contact with a Grace Church member has suggested they were not made aware of possible objections and are concerned. As Mr Hoff told me, current users are, in the main, happy. That, he has told me in writing, is what matters. One begs to disagree strongly.
It is the whole community which matters not current users, because the charitable object defines the centre as for community benefit, not for religion, even by a back door.
This area, like that served by Eldon Way, has issues of disadvantage. A community centre open to all regardless of faith or not, run only for the community, is what is needed. There are five people, many well-known in the town and community, who feel this is too important to risk, and who wish to take on the trustee role. Chris has asked where people were in the past? Well, one must respond, based on what I have found out, they were always there had they been asked.
I should clarify that, apart from editing The BR Herald, I served as Arun and Bognor Town Councillor for this area for well over ten years and The Bognor Fun Bus children’s play project, which I founded and ran for 28 years, was a very regular visitor to this immediate area over that time, based on an open-access basis.
