News / Alarm at Freefield closure plan
LERWICK pensioners are struggling to swallow Monday’s announcement that Shetland Islands Council wants to close the Freefield Centre that provides lunch for up to 40 old folk.
The council has been seeking £80,000 annual savings by closing the popular centre, but has held back after an outcry from its users.
However councillors on the SIC’s social services committee are being advised to close the building by the end of May when they meet this week.
Council staff have spent the past year negotiating with several voluntary groups to find a way forward for the building on North Road.
Suggestions have included continuing the luncheon club alongside a community cafe, a day care service, a charity shop storage facility and a catering business.
However in her report to Friday’s social services committee meeting, interim community care director Sally Shaw says the building is not adequately equipped for any of the proposals and would cost too much to renovate.
Luncheon club user Doreen Williamson said that she had only heard the news from the local media on Monday.
“I am really flabberghasted, I thought there was still hope. I don’t want to give up hope,” she said.
Pensioners staged a protest outside the council chamber when the Freefield was originally placed at risk as part of the council’s huge savings programme in February 2012.
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