Cash-strapped charity to sell off its Leicester headquarters
A cash-strapped charity for deaf and hard-of-hearing people is to sell off its headquarters.
Trustees at Action Deafness, based in Welford Road, in the city centre, said they could no longer afford the £113,000-a-year costs of running the building.
They want the centre, which is also home to the Church of the Good Shepherd, to be put on the market within six months.
The charity's chief executive has vowed to keep its services running for an estimated 189,000 people with hearing problems across Leicestershire by finding alternative venues, but one group has vowed to fight the closure.
The charity's latest accounts, for 2008-9, show a loss of more than £398,000.
Chief executive Craig Crowley told a meeting of deaf and hard-of-hearing people on Tuesday that it had finally lost its financial battle to keep the Welford Road building.
He said: "There has been a deficit over a number of years but it has been worse over the past three years.
"We have to be realistic. It is not viable in the long term to keep the building."
The decision to sell off the centre, which opened in May 1960, follows the closure last year of the charity's other venue, a former chapel in Forest Road, Loughborough.
The charity said it could not afford the £300,000 bill for that building.
A petition and online campaign were launched in an unsuccessful bid to save the Loughborough centre.
Mr Crowley has appealed to deaf and hard-of-hearing people to suggest what accommodation is needed to make sure existing groups can continue meeting.
Two working groups comprising trustees, charity staff and members from the deaf community have been set up to draw up future plans. One group will look at provision in Leicester and the second provision in Loughborough.
A blog page – an online diary – will also be put on the charity's website so people can add their suggestions.
Karen Sly, vice-chairman of Leicestershire Deaf Children's Society, vowed to fight the sudden closure.
She said: "We asked last year whether the building would be sold off and we were told not.
"We should have been told if it was on the cards so we had more time to find somewhere else.
"The building should not be sold until a suitable alternative, especially for the children, has been found."
But David Sly, a spokesman for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Leicester, urged people to rally behind the chief executive and have their say on what facilities they wanted.
"Our groups will carry on, we don't know where, but it will be better than nothing," he said. "I'm sure we can get some fantastic facilities and we need to help the trustees do this."
For more information go to:
www.actiondeafness.org.uk
3 Comments
by Arthur, Leicester
Friday, January 15 2010, 2:36PM
“On September 23rd the Mercury posted an article quoting the year end 08/09 losses as follows;
'In the year ending March 2009, the charity spent £821,044 ¿ £178,111 more than its income for the 12-month period.'
And yet now we are told;
'The charity's latest accounts, for 2008-9, show a loss of more than £398,000.'
Which figure is accurate? And if both figures have been quoted from the accounts why is there such a huge discrepancy?”
by j, leic
Thursday, January 14 2010, 2:22PM
“Julie,
It isn't a case of reversing the decision, it is a case of finding the funds to continue operating it, and they simply don't exist. Reversing the decision would be very easy to do but would go against charity law unless the funds were available to continue running the centre. I'm afraid that unless anyone can produce the money, or a way of raising it in a sustainable manner, there is no,alternative.”
by Julie, Leicester
Thursday, January 14 2010, 11:24AM
“How sad that after years 50 years the Deaf Centre will be lost. I studied British Sign Language there in the '90's. I hope they can get the decision reversed.”