Campaigners say they have successfully raised the necessary funds to submit a bid to buy and run a former youth centre as a community facility after Derbyshire County Council announced plans to sell the property at an auction.
The council has agreed to sell its Polygon Centre building, on Church Street, Alfreton, as it continues with a number of plans to offset an estimated multi-million budget deficit of around £39m for the 2024-25 financial year.
Save The Polygon Centre campaigner Joe Peall launched a GoFundMe campaign last year to save the well-known Polygon Centre which has raised thousands of pounds and he also secured £75,000 in sponsorship to form a Community Interest Company in an effort to buy and run the centre as a community facility and hub.
Mr Peall said: “We are thrilled to have reached this crucial stage in our campaign. But our work is not done.
“We need as many people as possible to sign our open letter, demonstrating the depth of community support for our proposal.”
The Save The Polygon Centre campaign group has set up an open digital letter and is urging as many people as possible to sign the correspondence online to persuade the council to approve, recognise and acknowledge its bid.
Its open letter outlines a vision for The Polygon Centre as a sustainable, community-led facility that will continue to serve Alfreton’s residents.
Campaigners feel that by signing the letter, residents and supporters can help send a strong message to Derbyshire County Council that this space must remain in community hands.
The newly-formed CIC aims to establish community ownership and management models in the hope that the building will provide long-term benefits for Alfreton and that the centre can be used again for community activities including youth groups, fitness classes and art workshops.
Hundreds of people have also signed a petition organised by a fellow campaigner against the council’s disposal of the building and to show the strength of public support and interest in retaining and using the building as a community facility.
However, the council has stressed the building is ‘not a thriving community hub’ and it has not been used to directly deliver community activities for some time and recently it has only been used as an office base for the council.
A council spokesperson explained the council is reviewing all its buildings and land and where there is no longer a need for them it has a duty to consider options for their future use.
Options can include selling property and land, according to the council, and reinvesting the proceeds into front line services, or to help protect jobs, reduce financial deficits or to help keep council tax as low as possible.
The council spokesperson has argued that the centre building is ‘not a thriving community hub’ and has not been used to directly deliver community activities for ‘quite some time’ and more recently it has only been used as an office for council officers.
Alfreton’s Polygon Centre also does not meet the threshold to be considered for a Community Asset Transfer, according to the council, because it is not occupied or used by any community organisations and because it has a significant capital value the council is proposing to sell the building at public auction.
Campaigners are urging residents, businesses and supporters to sign their open letter by visiting https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfLoq9w-lLrv8IIXo4LEof8QSeoc_8oZM3z4O8d1p3zOxBpvQ/viewform for details.
Derbyshire County Council has confirmed it is on track to achieve £31.3m of savings by the end of the current 2024-25 financial year on March 31, 2025, after it has been rolling out a number of saving proposals – including asset rationalisation – to manage a previously forecast budget deficit of over £39m for the current 2024-25 financial year.
The council is also considering the sale and conversion of its headquarters at County Hall, Matlock, into a hotel, homes and offices now that less than a third of the building is occupied by staff following changes in working patterns.
