Community Groups to be left with nowhere to go.

Fratton residents have expressed outrage at the imminent closure of the Methodist-run Wesley centre on Fratton Road.

The centre which provides accommodation for a host of community groups looks set to close its doors in December after a sale was recently agreed with the Chinese Church organisation.

Centre attendant Barry Liverton, 51, believes that the closure will be a huge loss for many local residents. He commented, “Our diary is a absolutely full until Christmas. We have a whole host of groups dealing with community issues such as Narcotics Anonymous, the Stroke Club and Slimming World. This will be a disaster for people in the area.”

Liverton who has worked at the centre for 15 years, and who will face redundancy when the centre closes , expressed anger at the way that the Methodist organisation has handled the sale.

He said “The Chinese group has made no promises to continue with the community role of the centre and come December the building will only open for Chinese services twice-a-week.”

“There were rival bidders on the table such as the AFM church who would have had more of a community focus, “ he said. “The Methodist organisation should have gone back to them and asked them if they could match the Chinese bid.”

Reverend Jackie Case defended the sale however, insisting that the Methodist church acted correctly: “We agreed the deal because it complied with all of the regulations for the sale of charity assets,“ she said. ”All of the Community groups were give plenty of notice at two AGM’s, the first of which was as early as 2008.

“The church was set to close in August 2009 but we have kept it open since then for the benefit of the groups. Much of the money we generate from the sale will go towards mission groups which will be of benefit to the wider community, “  she said.

She also called on the people of Portsmouth to show ore support for their churches:  “The church can only provide these sorts of services if the community gets involved,” she said. “We are trying our best to reach out to people but the reality is that older congregations do not have the energy to do so much”

Portsmouth City Council were approached by the Methodists church to see if they could save the centre but they  declined to act because of the proximity of Fratton Community Centre.

Portsmouth Counselling Service will still continue to let the second floor of the building from the Chinese Church. A spokesman for the organisation said: “As far as we are concerned we let the offices  from the Wesley Centre Association and this arrangement will simply be transferred to the new owners of the building.”

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