Scrutiny Committee Councillors Support The Volunteer Centre-But Will Havering Council Listen?

Another upstanding organisation doing its best for Havering was welcomed by the Overview & Scrutiny Board on Wednesday 16 of April.

Havering Volunteer Centre, which receives around £56,000 of support from Havering Council yearly, enables the Council to save millions of pounds by fulfilling many duties and roles, some of which are statutory, and others which help the Council to avoid more significant expenditure.

Councillors of all parties appreciated the contributions that have been made by the HVC since its inception in 2015, including assisting the Council during Covid, and in the aftermath of the fires at Wennington.

Despite the Leader of the Council decrying legitimate concerns as ‘fearmongering’, it was confirmed that the Volunteer Centre is facing a steep rent increase, while at the same time officers admitted that the Council’s funding is only achieved by fortunate underspends in it’s Communities service.

Romford Labour Councillor Jane Keane commented after the meeting that the HVC deserved more certainty for the value it gave, “the question really is, can we afford not to fund this organisation? The Scrutiny Committee understands the value of the work that’s being done, and we can only hope that the Cabinet does too.”

Beam Park Labour Councillor Matt Stanton raised the question of whether the Council could be doing more to encourage local businesses and organisations to contribute, “Not only are some of our local family businesses very generous, but many larger companies are keen to showcase their community support, and what better way for them to do so than to back our Volunteers?”

A spokesperson for Havering Council, said:

“As set out at Council, Havering’s Cabinet fully recognises the commitment and work that the Havering Volunteer Centre (HVC) does for us and our communities. Following recommendations by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Cabinet will now consider these, which include the continuation of the £56,000 grant to the Havering Volunteer Centre (HVC) for this year (2025/26) and the years ahead. We cannot comment further until this decision has been made.” 

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