Council transferring lease of Tipton community centre to learning disability charity

Sandwell Council is looking to hand over the lease for Ocker Hill Community Centre in St Mark’s Road, Tipton, to local charity Options for Life which provides day-to-day support for adults with learning disabilities and autism.

As part of the 25-year agreement, the council would charge the charity £1 a year in rent but relinquish responsibility for repairing and maintaining the building.

Options for Life, which was founded in Oldbury in 1988, helps adults with learning disabilities and autism to develop independent living skills such as cooking and healthy eating, finance, gardening and exercise.

The community centre in St Mark’s Road includes a kitchen, dining room, arts and crafts spaces and a music room.

Sandwell Council said it needs to make £2.5m yearly ‘savings’ from its property portfolio as part of cost-cutting measures that reduce the spend on maintaining and repairing its buildings.

The community centre is valued at £140,000 with rental income estimated at £13,500 a year.

A report, which will be discussed by the Labour-run council’s cabinet on March 11, said community asset transfers would only be agreed if there was a “clear and sustainable” plan in place to maintain the building and with the understanding that “further calls for support were unlikely.”

The report also says the building’s lease expired in December last year and no other use had been identified.

Taking back the building would also result in the loss of a “vital community organisation and facility,” the council added.

Sandwell Council has agreed to a number of community asset transfers in recent years including several community centres in a bid to cuts its property budget.