As a community group in Warwick of 50 years standing, the Warwick Spinners and Weavers Group have grown to the point where a permanent place for equipment storage and regular meetings is a high priority.
While the club is financially sound, there are not and will probably never will be enough funds to purchase a venue, so the present arrangement with the Southern Downs Regional Council for exclusive use of Atkinson House at Slade Campus in Horsman Road has been a Godsend. If our group could stay and secure a lease agreement on Atkinson House, we would be able to apply for government grants to improve the building as necessary and, with our own savings and annual fundraising, cope with any maintenance and repairs that are required.
Furthermore, we have been given to understand that other groups would be happy to do the same.
Taking a wider view, we would like to draw the council’s attention to the fact that if the sale of Slade Campus leads to even part of the site being cut up for housing etc, then Warwick will lose a very valuable resource necessary to its growth in the future.
As our community grows, so will our need for a Community Centre.
Since the council’s purchase of Slade, even without advertising, this property has already performed as a community centre to varying degrees – and has huge potential for much, much more. If the council sells this land to anyone but the community, the purchaser will be able to sell it off in pieces and this unique acreage in town, suitable for a myriad of public uses, will become permanently unavailable.
We urge the council to consider allowing the Slade properties to be run by and for the Warwick community for the benefit of Warwick people and their various groups and gatherings, knowing that in the future we will still have our site – for something which to date Warwick councils have failed to provide – a Community Centre!
We ask the council to consider that, if each group using Slade as a community amenity centre was able to secure a lease, they could not only apply for government grants to improve the portion for which they were responsible, but also be in a secure enough position to spend their own funds on ongoing maintenance and repairs (something a mere meeting-by-meeting tenant would not consider) and this will save the council a lot of money!
If the council sells to the community, where are Warwick present and past residents going to find the purchase price, you ask? Well, $3 million equals $1000 x 3000 times, and that would be a very good start to the purchase price. With the local population behind the idea and a lot more people in Warwick than 3000 people…. $3 million-plus in donations might be easier to raise than one might imagine!
On the other hand, instead of owning a number of pieces of real estate all over the place, some with buildings on them, some unused and under-utilised, it would make good sense for the council to develop at Slade a single Community Centre and sell the other surplus lands, (perhaps for housing?)
Just one good centre with meeting rooms, catering, accommodation, outdoor space for public use, would be a good thing for council – and only one precinct to maintain! Not only that but ‘lessees’ prepared and willing to help out with funds! (Sometimes one just has to think outside the square to turn ‘lemon’ into ‘lemonade’!)
The council might also consider that if the Scouts, Lapidary Club and Pottery Club moved across to Slade, that area next to Slade would make a 300 car-park, even if it is 15years or so down the track!
We Warwick citizens deserve and expect our city fathers to look to our future.
Furthermore, just the housing blocks on the corner of Weewondilla and Horsman could raise $1 million and would not impact on the oval. (If anyone makes money on these, why can’t it be the council?)
So there are two options – an incorporated non-profit community body becoming responsible for owning and running the complex, at the same time responsible for reserving a site for our future Community Centre, or the council retaining control without having to be responsible for all the costs involved! Each community group that is allowed to hold a lease over their individual buildings could assume responsibility for same, thereby helping “Slade” to regain its former glory without being a drain on ratepayer funds.
To restate our case – as will many other interested groups in Warwick) – The Warwick Spinners and Weavers Group Inc could, if able to secure a lease agreement, see our way to taking on the responsibility for the ongoing maintenance and repairs to the particular building we presently occupy – “Atkinson House”, and we very much want the opportunity to do just that.
We hope this will be considered when expressions of interest come in by the due date.
Rosemary Sutherland,
President of Warwick Spinners and Weavers Group
