Rising costs force Send charity to shut centre

The Goldhay Centre has been leased by Family Voice Peterborough since 2015 but is going to cost them about £60,000 to run

A charity supporting families of children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) is closing a community centre due to "unsustainable running costs".

Family Voice Peterborough (FVP) offers health, education and social care support to struggling parents and carers based at the Goldhay Centre in Peterborough, which it has managed since 2015.

The centre in Orton Goldhay also ran a weekly cafe and food pantry to support people who felt socially isolated that was attended by about 50 people.

Louise Ravenscroft, from FVP said it was a "difficult decision" to end its lease with the city council on 30 September, but it was crucial "to focus resources in supporting rising demand.

The charity, which relies on grants, said running costs of nearly £60,000 per year had made the management of the centre "unviable".

"We were the custodians of the centre, but a lot of smaller groups that used the centre lost funding and the hall hire declined largely over the years. This impacted us financially," said Ms Ravenscroft.

"The building is very old and needs a lot of work and money to bring it to public use standards."

The building has been handed back to the council, which has been contacted by the BBC for comment.

Louise Ravenscroft said Family Voice Peterborough had been hit by the cost of living crisis and had struggled to run the Goldhay Centre amid rising costs

Ms Ravenscroft said young parents of Send children were at a "breaking point" and the charity had seen a "significant increase in demand" over the past 18 months.

She said if FVP kept the Goldhay Centre, it "would have struggled to keep their support work going".

"We did a lot of soul-searching, but it wasn’t sustainable to run the centre," she said.

"Parent carers are at breaking point… Peterborough has seen a rise in families with complex needs but the city has seen a decline in resources.

"They are struggling to get their child’s needs recognised, including access to GPs and special needs dentists.

"Our focus must be on these parent carers and helping them have a voice."

Previously, the council said requests for assessments for Send children had risen by 20% in the past year.

From next month, the charity will move to the Eco Innovation Centre in Peterborough city centre temporarily and will continue to offer its services to Send families.

It is still exploring options to continue running the food pantry, Ms Ravenscroft said.