A NEW manager will need to be found to run Guilsfield Community Centre before the end of March, after the councillor who takes care of it at present said he wanted to step aside.

The centre is part of Guilsfield Primary School and has played an integral part of village life for decades, but questions over land ownership saw the community centre face closure three years ago, before Guilsfield Community Council stepped in.

The building is owned by Powys County Council, and is leased to the community centre trustees, but it is has effectively been managed by the council's vice chairman Glynne Turner since 2018.

At a meeting on Tuesday, Cllr Turner told councillors he was unwilling to carry on in the role for much longer, as he wants to do “other projects.”

Cllr Turner said: “Come the spring, I’ve done it for three years, I no longer want to do it, and I don’t think the community council should be acting in this role any longer than the end of this financial year.”

He added that the facilities are in “good shape” but number of issues such as contracts for insurance, lighting, and  fire alarms would need to be addressed for the “long term”.

The  problem over the building is that community centre trustees are in limbo, as they wait for the Charity Commission to provide information on the legal standing of who actually owns land that was bought on behalf of the community centre.

Cllr Trevor Trevor who is also a trustee, said: “I’m not going to make any promises as to when this will be resolved.

County Times: Cllr Glynne TurnerCllr Glynne Turner

“I foolishly did that when all this started because I thought it would be fairly easily sorted out, and that has not proved to be the case.

“We will continue to press the Charity Commission for a response – there is uncertainty over the land ownership  it was done in the name of the centre, and it wasn’t entitled to do it, somebody must own it."

He explained that the trustees have been told by the Charity Commission that one of them could not run the centre as it “would be a breach of duty”.

GCC Chairman, Cllr Ian Harrison, said:  “If we need to carry on supporting the community centre in the way we have been, we need to come to an agreement on who could replace Cllr Turner from the spring.

“This is a tough issue and there isn’t an obvious solution to it.

“Cllr Turner should be commended for what he’s done over the last three years.”

Cllr Harrison recommended that talks would taken place over the future management of the centre, and by the next council meeting he hoped he could put a proposal in front of councillors to discuss.