A DECISION which has provided a financial lifeline to a closure threatened community centre is being “called in” to be looked at again.
The Together Works centre in Caldicot, which is used as a base for various community groups, was facing closure at the end of March with the loss of funding from the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund.
Monmouthshire County Council’s Labour-led cabinet approved how that funding is allocated for the new financial year last week which also ensured Together Works will continue for another year.
But that decision will now be looked at again by a special scrutiny meeting after being “called in” by three councillors. Unusually two are members of the Labour group that leads the council.
The committee, which will meet at 10am on Tuesday, March 4, will require an explanation of how the decision was made.
Caldicot West End Labour councillor Jill Bond said she didn’t believe looking again at how awarding of Shared Prosperity Funds was made could destabilise Together Works and also said it didn’t indicate a split within the council’s Labour group.
She said: “The call is around the grant funding and how it is apportioned, is it transparent and where is the scrutiny? That’s what we’re challenging. The decision is the decision and we’re not challenging anyone personally.”
Shared Prosperity Funding is allocated by a local board, which council departments are a part of and chaired by the council’s deputy leader, Labour’s Paul Griffiths.
The Monmouthshire board also includes the Cardiff Capital Region, Melin housing association and the Department of Work and Pensions.
Cllr Bond said she, and Labour member for Caldicot’s Dewstow ward, Tony Easson, as well as Llanelly Hill independent Simon Howarth, want to understand how decisions are made and said: “It is about accountability and transparency of the decision making progress.”
The funding for Together Works, which is based in a council-owned building, is intended to allow it to continue operating for a further year while it seeks to find longer-term funding.
The UK Labour government agreed to continue the Shared Prosperity Fund in 2025/26 as a “transition year” but with its total value reduced.
Together Works will receive £43,000 from the Shared Prosperity Fund this year while it has also received a donation from environmental charity, South East Wales Energy Agency, which will allow the Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations to continue to employ the centre’s manager and part-time staff.
Zoë Perry, of the centre’s friends group, said it had been successful in supporting 18 community groups since establishing in 2021 and said there was genuine fear when people learned it could close.
“We’ve had such strong support,” said Ms Perry: “One elderly person said ‘I don’t see how I could go on if it wasn’t for this place’. It really is as strong as that.
“The community created this hoo-ha and had we not made this huge fuss the decision (to continue funding for another year) would not have been made.”
Ms Perry said she understood the call in was around the transparency of the decision making process. Cllr Bond also said comments made by Cllr Griffiths, when the cabinet approved the board’s allocations, had been misunderstood as a criticism of Together Works.
Cllr Griffiths had said there had been a collective failure to manage how it would transition to a sustainable funding model that wasn’t reliant on the Shared Prosperity Fund or the council.
