Closure for West Harton Churches Action Station?

Is there a rescue package?

I am rather concerned at news reaching me of the imminent closure of services offered by the West Harton Churches Action Station in Boldon Lane, South Shields, which was visited and praised only last year by Sophie, the Countess of Wessex.

The facility offers services to the West Harton and Biddick Hall and All Saints communities which many regard as being essential rather than valuable, up to 25,000 service users in one of the most deprived areas in South Shields rely upon it’s staff for support and guidance. Mainly funded through charitable donations the action station has struggled to gain finance over the past twelve months and has become one of the victims of the Northern Rock crisis, as the bank’s charitable arm reassess it’s funding commitments during it’s recent troubles. Six staff are employed at the Action Station which offers a range of money advice and debts services as well as helping people to find work and even offers cheap meals. For some, a meal at the drop-in centre in Boldon Lane may be their main food source for the day!

The West Harton Churches Action Station also offers WEA training courses, and a cancer counselling service and a credit union. Many people at present rely on it’s advice and advocacy services for the relief and restructuring of debt, and unless some sort of miracle occurs, or a knight in shining armour arrives, then these services will close at the end of March. I am informed that the professional advice staff have already received redundancy notices. If the closure goes ahead other agencies, such as The Citizen’s Advice Bureau could be swamped and overwhelmed by additional demand, particularly from those in the midst of money restructuring dealing with creditors.

The advice centre is costing approx. £200,000 per annum to run, but it is estimated that services could continue for around £150,000 with some savings or changes to the management structure. As far as I am aware, South Tyneside Council has little or no involvement in it’s activities, but one would hope that the three ward councillors Joseph Kidd, Olive Punchion, and Tom Pigott, are fully aware of the latest development and are working towards helping the service find new funding.

In the past, the loss of such services to the community would be greeted with huge protests, particularly as they affect some of the poorest and hardest hit members of our town, I’m not calling for marches with banners flying but it’s time to sit up, take notice, and help out in a professional manner to formulate some sort of rescue deal!