Fears first arose among the community that the beloved centres would close when the council announced it would be reviewing the five APC sites earlier this year.
Greenwich has said the supervised sites run at a cost of £730,000 per year and the council must make changes to the APC offerings as “it is necessary to make savings”. The council is currently staring down a £45.1m budget gap which it predicts will grow to over £100m by 2028/29.
Greenwich Council has said its APC review also intends to make them “more accessible, inclusive, and sustainable for the future”. It feels many of the sites are out of date and “need investment to improve safety and meet the standards our children and young people deserve”.
With the APC public consultation kicking off on November 17, the council’s full intentions for what it hopes to do with them was finally revealed. Below is outlined what Greenwich Council proposes to do with each of the five APC sites.
Woolwich is one of two centres that Greenwich Council is considering closing entirely, citing its “unsuitable location and the health risks linked to traffic pollution” relating to its close proximity to Woolwich Church Street.
The council is proposing investing in nearby Maryon Park and building a new multi-use games area (MUGA) there. However, the Maryon Park redevelopment is subject to planning permission and if the MUGA is delivered it will be unsupervised, unlike the Woolwich APC which has staff to supervise play.
Greenwich is also considering moving some of the Woolwich APC services such as free holiday school meals to a nearby venue such as Clockhouse Community Centre or Woolwich Waves leisure centre which is set to open next month.
The council wants to introduce new sports coaching and activity programmes at the MUGA and add new play equipment, seating and shelter. It is also considering installing CCTV at the new site.
Glyndon APC is the other site that is facing complete closure as a supervised play centre. However, Greenwich Council is considering opening up the centre’s outdoor space and moving to an unsupervised model so it can be used by the public at all times.
Like with the Woolwich site, the council is proposing moving some of its services to a nearby venue such as Glyndon Community Centre or Plumstead Centre to ensure “continued access for those who need them”.
In terms of improving its outdoor facilities, Greenwich might upgrade the MUGA with new equipment, lighting and tennis tables and it could resurface the grass area. It is also considering introducing sports coaching and activity programmes as well as more social features.
For the Coldharbour APC, Greenwich Council wants to invest £1.5million into the site and transform it into a new community hub. The current APC service would end to enable the redevelopment of the building which will be aimed at providing services to all different ages and groups within the local community.
Council Leader Anthony Okereke said: “We’re proposing a new hub in the heart of Coldharbour. This will be the perfect space for the community to thrive, and serves as a flexible venue for both residents and the local community sector.
“We’ll work with community groups and voluntary organisations on what the proposed building will look like and could offer. This proposed approach could make the best use of the space, while improving the playground and giving families and the whole community a real focal point.”
This proposed community hub would trial “an innovative neighbourhood focused approach” that, if successful, the council will attempt to roll out across the borough. The Coldharbour Community Hub proposal will be subject to a future consultation separate from the APC one.
In a similar vein to its proposals in Coldharbour, Greenwich Council wants to redevelop the Meridian APC site into a new supervised community youth hub that “could host different youth activities throughout the year”.
The council said the sites could contribute to its borough-wide network of community youth hubs and youth support services, which would include opportunities for whole-family support. Like the Coldharbour proposal, the council wants to reach out to local community groups to inform them about what they should do with the hub and this will be subject to a separate future consultation.
If the Meridian Community Youth Hub gets the go ahead, the Meridian APC would close and its services would cease, to enable the redevelopment.
As the Plumstead APC is the most used of the five sites, Greenwich Council has decided not to make any changes to it. According to the council, Plumstead had over 50 per cent more visits than the average across other APCs during the recent period in which they were tracking usage.
The council also found that it had more visits from children under the age of five than any of the other sites, and unlike Woolwich “no suitable alternative location” had been identified by the authority nearby. Because of these reasons, Greenwich wants to keep Plumstead open as it currently operates, which is 30 hours a week, 261 days a year, with supervised sessions for children.
Greenwich Council’s APC consultation will run until December 14. It can be accessed via a website set up by the council or paper copies can be picked up at APCs, libraries and community centres throughout the borough.
