The manager of a Nottingham community centre says he has lodged a complaint with the city council after the authority told him last month to hand over the keys to the building. Phil Merry, 39, says he was told during a meeting on February 7 that if the Mapperley Community Association did not hand over the keys, they could face eviction from the Mapperley Community Centre on Woodborough Road.
But Mr Merry says this position has now changed after a meeting on Wednesday night (March 8). Mr Merry says this meeting was attended by a senior councillor and council officer, both of whom are said to have told him that eviction was "never an option."
Instead, Phil Merry says the council is keen to negotiate on the signing of a new lease which will move the Mapperley Community Association on to a commercial level of rent. But Mr Merry says the uncertainty around the initial eviction threat has cost the group around £4,000.
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He said: "I would estimate that this has cost us in excess of four to five thousand pounds, because we have lost two of our biggest fee-paying groups. We're in some real difficulty but we have now been told that eviction was never an option.
"What we discussed on Wednesday was signing a seven year lease with a commercial rent of £8,000 per year. At the moment, we would not be able to afford that but they have said they want to work with us on that."
Nottingham City Council is currently reviewing the arrangements it has in place with several community groups occupying its buildings. The Place Activity Centre in Sherwood and Karam Yog - known as the Nottingham Teaching College - are among the organisations which say they would have to close if their planned rent rises go ahead.
Speaking about the latest situation with the Mapperley Community Centre, a Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: "The council continues to carry out a review of all its community assets and buildings to make sure they are providing best value to local taxpayers. This is part of our work under the Together For Nottingham Plan.
"Negotiations remain ongoing with the group based at Mapperley Community Centre and we feel these have been positive from our meeting earlier this week. We are carefully considering their input to see if we can find a solution that works for everyone.
"When similar leases come up across the city, the starting point for renewal will now be a commercial market rate and where groups evidence worth to their local community, we can apply significant discounts to the annual rent."
Phil Merry added: "We are putting together a formal complaint about the handling of this so far because there has been a direct cost to us of what was threatened at the February meeting." Nottingham City Council was unable to comment on the eviction threat reportedly given in February and why the community centre had now reprtedly been given a different message.
A spokesperson for the authority added: "Like a number of venues across the country, usage numbers have tailed off at Mapperley Community Centre since the pandemic as lifestyles and priorities have changed. Fewer people are attending and the council would like to support the group to develop an enhanced local community offer moving forward."
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