Council faces backlash after ‘misleading’ day centre relocation claims

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

A council’s scrutiny committee has accused officers of misleading it over plans to turn a resource centre into a day centre for adults with additional needs.

Following an outcry from local members and the community Wrexham County Borough Council has put the proposal to move Cunliffe Day Centre services – which support vulnerable adults from across Wrexham – into Acton Resource Centre on pause.

But there was scathing criticism from members and the chair of the council’s Safeguarding, Communities and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Cllr Derek Wright over the fact that no consultation was undertaken before the decision was made public.

Acton and Maesydre Cllr Corin Jarvis, who started a 700-strong petition following the announcement that Acton Resource Centre would close, was invited to address the committee first.

“There is an understanding of the need to relocate the day service,” she said. The Cunliffe centre is no longer fit for purpose and there is a need to release the land for social housing.

“However in relation to the plans detailed in the report, as the local member I wasn’t consulted on the plans, I was in a meeting where members were told our resource centre was to close to the public in June.

“Not to be consulted on the closure of a community centre in my ward shocked me. Most concerning however was the fact that no users of the centre, community councillors or residents that the centre serves were consulted on the loss of a vital community asset.

“My second concern was around the origins of the funding for Acton Resource Centre, which was paid for by ringfenced capital funding and capital contributions from Acton Community Council to develop a children, young people and family centre building project.

“Thirdly there was concerns about process and proper decision making in this council as this proposal was progressed under Chief Officer delegated powers.”

Building identified

Then Cllr Wright made his claim.

“My concern is that this scrutiny committee was misled at the February meeting,” he said. “I’ve had a look at the the meeting and I’ve got a reasonably good memory. On February 11 it was suggested we bring a report back in February 2027.

“I suggested bringing a report back earlier would be too soon because no building had been identified and the officer agreed with me that no report had been identified at that time.

“Why on the February 2 did the SLT the lead members and senior officers know exactly what building had been identified, but on February 11, when this committee asked officers and lead members, we were told no building had been identified. If that isn’t misleading, I don’t know what is.

“At the March meeting, when the minutes were unanimously confirmed as a true record, no officer or lead member said there had been a change of heart on February 18 and we were now going to relocate the Cunliffe Center to the Acton Resource Center.

“These dates don’t add up and I really feel that someone has misled this committee by not giving all of the facts.”

Defence 

Chief Officer for Social Care Jonathan Griffiths defended his department’s position, stating he was instructed the matter could be dealt with by delegated powers – where officers are given the power to make decisions independently of councillors.

“I don’t really feel that we’ve misled the committee,” he said. “In all true faith, social care have sought an appropriate building that we could utilise for the purposes of day service for the Cunliffe users.

“What we were doing at that point was trying to ensure that if that asset was available, then it could be internally transferred under delegated powers. Until there was an internal transfer of an asset, you had nothing to engage about because there was no decision being made that a building was available.

“So the SLT process was to ensure that a delegated power was available internally in order to transfer an asset.”

Surprised 

However, the announcement of plans to close Acton Resource Centre as a community asset in March took the community and councillors by surprise.

Following the announcement service users were served letters of notice and staff were placed into consultation to find them new roles within the authority. Those letters of notice are also now suspended according to the authority’s HR department.

Other committee members joined the chorus of disapproval.

“A lot of trust has gone out of the window for me because this committee has not been given the truth,” said Cllr Krista Childs.

“There seems to have been reports going back 12 months that identified Acton Resource Centre as a feasible option and yet when we asked on 11 Feb about the relocation we were told there would be full consultation needed. that a project officer was undertaking a scoping exercise.”

Cllr Mike Davies – who represents Rhosnesni – spoke out on behalf of his residents.

“I find it disturbing that the council can consider such issues without any consultation with local members or even any notice what was being considered,” he said.

“I feel it’s very disrespectful that elected local counselors have not been consulted and have been kept in the dark.

“It makes counselors look stupid. We lose credibility when we have to pass on news to residents. They ask us what we’ve done about it and we say we didn’t even know. I find that really disappointing.”

Agreed

Cllr Andy Gallanders, who also represents Rhosnesni, shared his colleague’s view.

“I must make it very clear, we are not against the users of the Cunliffe Center needing a new site,” he said. “Nor are we against the cleared site being used for social homes.

“However I feel disgusted that we are being made to pitch our needs against each other. That’s not how an authority works.

“There are legitimate concerns on why Acton Community Council and this committee wasn’t consulted, having received the report just three weeks before this decision.

“Why are our needs not as important as the ones of the Cunliffe users? Why are the youth centers, the Citizens Advice Service, the toddlers group not worth consulting? The biggest issue here is zero community consultation.

“With elected members, we could have shown you the issues with the site, we could have helped mould this issue to be something productive.”

The committee unanimously voted to ask officers to bring a new report on the proposals – including alternative options such as extending Acton Resource Centre so it can be shared between the Cunliffe Centre and the community – to its September meeting. It will also undertake a full review of the decision making process.