Centre 67 To Remain In ‘Mothball’ State

Proposals to keep the Centre 67 site in Rhosddu in its ‘mothball state’ were passed yesterday by the Council Executive Board.

The board passed the recommendation to keep the building in its current state while all possible options were looked into.

Cllr Malcolm King bought up a ‘number of uncertainties’ that he hopes will become clearer in the next few months. This involved the impact of cuts, the level of agile working policy which has seen 25% reduction in work stations; the use and need of staff parking, and finally a community asset review which is currently taking place across the whole area.

With regards to the community asset review, Cllr King said: “We need to take a view and rationalise the use of the buildings. We have finished in two areas, but this area is still currently under review.”

The costs to keep the property in a mothball state will vary year on year, with costs in 2011/2012 being in the region of £6k. However this was reduced in 2012/2013 with costs at £647.20. However Cllr King said it is important to note it is not the intention to keep the building in this state permanently.

In the past two of the issues that have surrounded the property is the fact it wasn’t DDA compliant and that there had been asbestos in the building.

When asked about the situation with asbestos in the building, Cllr King said he ‘had been told that is had been extracted’.

The timescale for the reviews to be completed and an estimation of how long the building would remain in the mothball state was subject to discussion. Cllr Joan Lowe said: “We need a timescale as this has been going on for a very long time.”

In response to this, Cllr King said he hopes it would be completed by October.

The building, which has been subject to an ongoing discussion for the past 7 years has received a number of proposals for its use.

Options on the future use of Centre 67 were previously reported to the Executive Board on 21 February 2012, with progress on the sites demolition commencing, with with the removal of utilities and the procurement of a demolition contractor.

However, the Lead Member for Policy, Finance, Performance and Governance requested that the resolution be reversed to enable Centre 67 to be further examined in the context of the current review of the Adult Social Care Service Asset Management Plan.

During the meeting, Cllr Joan Lowe mentioned that there has been interest from the Muslim community in the past, who were interested in using the property as a mosque.

More recent proposals for the building have come from the Yum Yum Project, who are interested in using the property as a ‘Free Space’. In last weeks Executive Board meeting, Cllr King said the board are ‘open to all suggestions on how we might use and develop our property’.

The board decided to voted to report back in six months to review the situation of the site.

You can read our report on last weeks meeting here.