THE Wey Centre faces an uncertain future once again.

After years of inactivity at the building which has left it looking dilapidated and unloved, Haslemere Mayor Malcolm Carter has called for action – three months after a special needs school in Hindhead offered to bring the building back into use and open it up to youth groups in the town.

Mr Carter told The Herald : “The future of the Wey Centre has been in question for many years and now cuts have diminished Surrey County Council’s budget, this building is once again in question.

“Although Waverley Borough Council own the building they have given Surrey County Council a long lease on it. But Surrey cannot afford to run or repair it and yet are not willing to surrender the lease back to WBC.”

Mr Carter said an offer from the Hindhead-based Stepping Stones special needs school to take on the centre in Wey Hill, in July, and spend some money on it so it could use the facility during the day – while making it available to voluntary youth groups in the evenings and weekend – had been greeted with enthusiasm. But he declared despite the best efforts of borough and county councillors: three months later they were no further forward.

“The opportunity is presumably buried somewhere deep in County Hall or Godalming,” Mr Carter added.

“At a time when both councils are looking to run more efficiently you would have thought that someone would be grabbing this opportunity with both hands.”

And he said: “The irony is Surrey on one hand is sending and paying for young people to attend Stepping Stones, while on the other it does not want to act quickly to help its own special needs responsibility.”

Now the mayor is threatening to set up a petition in an effort to get things moving. With the Wey Centre once again falling into a state of disrepair with rotting woodwork, an overgrown garden and hardly a building Haslemere could be proud of, Mr Carter said: “It looks very shabby and hasn’t been maintained for at least 10 years. Literally nothing has happened to it.”

Facilities inside include several rooms, a music room, large sitting room and kitchen and a hall large enough for basketball and other activities.

Currently a youth group of around 20 reportedly uses it on Thursday and Friday evenings but the building is empty for the rest of the week.

Once a much-used community centre and a place for older people to enjoy in the town before Haslewey opened its doors many years ago, several ambitious plans including a state-of-the-art library with youth facilities have all fallen by the wayside.

With several successful youth groups in the town for younger people Mr Carter believes: “This should be a vibrant building and is the only place we have for youth in the town apart from schools and churches.”

Funds to provide a part-time youth worker were set aside by Haslemere Town Council in the current year and last year, but they have now been allocated to other projects after the county council was unable to find anyone to take on the role.

One of the stumbling blocks could be over the usage of the building stipulating it must be a youth centre or for the purpose of social and welfare services.

But Stepping Stones’ business manager said this week she hoped a solution could be found quickly to resolve the lack of action over the ºscheme.

Anne Edward told The Herald: “What we are looking to do is use the building for our post-16 students, to move them down to Haslemere from our Undershaw school, in Hindhead, to be nearer the centre of town and to get them out and about in work placements in the local community and improve their social aspect.”

And with the growing popularity of the school and for post-16 students along with a need for other young people in the community to enjoy proper facilities when not being used by the school, Mrs Edward added: “We propose to provide an internet cafe, and recording studio so the centre can be used to its full capacity.”

Richard Hampson, Haslemere’s county councillor told The Herald: “For my money, the building needs to be used or it is pointless.”

He also said he realised the complications over the lease but understood Mr Carter’s frustration over the impasse.

“I want everybody to have a good outcome and don’t want to see us losing the opportunity leaving youth groups with nowhere to go,” said Mr Hampson, who also has concerns about other youth groups in the town including the Scouts, Guides, St John Ambulance, ATC and others whose current home at the Wey Hill youth campus, was also under threat.

And he maintained Stepping Stones’ proposal was not a case of the county “putting it in the drawer and forgetting about it”,

A Waverley spokesman said: “We would love to see the Wey Centre fully utilised.”

But Surrey CC had not responded to a request for a comment about the situation before we went to press.