A city councillor has vowed to breathe new life into a once popular community centre at the heart of her ward.
Councillor Debra Waller, of the Sandhill Ward, is working closely with Sunderland North Community Business Centre and local residents to restore Thorney Close Action and Enterprise Centre to its ‘former glory.’
Once a popular community hub comprising a café, library, nursery and public sector hub, the centre has suffered heavily from funding cuts over the past 13 years and has seen footfall dwindle – from hundreds passing through its doors every week to being ‘more or less empty’.
“This is the closest thing Thorney Close has to a community centre and its sad to see how far it has fallen over the past 13 or so years,” Cllr Waller said. “It’s at the point now where the majority of people just walk past and think it’s closed.
“This used to be a bustling community hub with events, a popular café and people accessing various types of support, from job vacancies to family and health advice. It still plays host to children’s karate, ju-jitsu and kickboxing lessons but that’s about it.”
Cllr Waller and the team at Sunderland North Community Business Centre, which runs the centre, have already brought the volunteer-led Clean & Green environmental programme to the centre in recent months and are now hoping to press on with plans to re-introduce a receptionist and reopen the café in a bid to breathe new life into the hub.
She added: “We’ve recently brought the Clean & Green environmental programme to the centre which has eight volunteers and is continuing to gather momentum. The group actively go out and participate in litter picks and perform general tidy up work – it’s a great initiative for the community and has been a great way of getting people back to the centre.
“We’re also looking at reopening the café which has been unused for years and re-introducing a receptionist, which if we get the funding – will really help make it more welcoming and alleviate stress from the organisations currently operating from the centre.
“This is yet another example of Labour Councillors delivering projects that have a real impact on the communities we serve. We’ve listened to our residents, heard their concerns and are working tirelessly to put improvements in place that address the challenges that really matter.”
The community centre is currently home to Together4Children, the Thorney Close Early Education Centre Nursery and Occupational Health and Cllr Waller is hopeful that – by working collaboratively with Sunderland North Community Business Centre and Sunderland City Council – they can attract more organisations to the hub.
She concluded: “There’s no reason why this can’t once again become a bustling community hub. It’s such a vital amenity and it needs all the support we can throw at it.
“There are funding opportunities we can explore to do this – and while we’ll actively be looking to raise the finance we need – we’ll also be calling on the local community to play their part in helping raise awareness of the hub and support the organisations there. It has to be a community effort.”
Kim McGuinness, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), has also lent her support to the campaign. Speaking during a visit to the centre this week, she said: “Ten years ago this centre was at the centre of the community here in Thorney Close and was a hive of activity. However, due to crushing government cuts imposed on Sunderland over the last decade, it has emptied out.
“That’s why I’m backing Debra’s campaign to restore it to what it once was. While people may think there is no link to crime here, there absolutely is. When we invest in public services like this; give young people things to do and invest in children right from their early years, it’s proven to reduce crime rates in our areas. That’s what we’re here to do and that’s why we must support the centre and her campaign.”