Fareham Borough Council set to spend £1m on repairing community-use buildings

Three of the buildings needing work were constructed in the 17th century, including Westbury Manor Museum, Crofton Community Centre and the Frosthole Scrap Store.

By comparison, the newest building needing work, Portchester Community Centre, opened in 2012.

Fareham borough councillors last night discussed the £1.1m price tag at a scrutiny panel meeting.

The cash is needed to protect the community assets from falling into disrepair.

Councillor Connie Hockley, chair of the leisure and community scrutiny panel said: ‘I have to say the figures do make you tremble, don’t they, when we’ve got so many other things that need doing and paying for?’

The costs will be split between the council and the tenants, many of which are charities and community associations.

The council owns 16 buildings comprising 10 community centres, three youth centres, a scout hut, a scrap store and a museum.

A council officer who presented the report said: ‘This year we became aware there were a number of community buildings with significant projects on the rise.

‘Some with significant maintenance issues, things like boilers and roofs and all the things that strike terror into our hearts.

‘For that reason, we decided we were going to fully review every single one of the community buildings.

‘When we look at all the information, then we’re looking at £1.1m for all the repair works for both the council and the community associations, it works out at roughly half and half which makes it sound slightly more palatable.’

‘I think it's important to notice we quite often drastically overspend on our repair budget that we do have for community buildings.’

The total cost to the council is more than £500,000 which will be spent in portions over the next five years.

Some £433,000 will be allocated from the council’s General Fund Revenue Reserves for ‘urgent’ repairs needed within a year.

Additional costs of £117,000 will be contained within existing budgets for smaller repairs and maintenance work.

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