“One Community Centre is missed from this review, one small insignificant diddy little community centre, a centre that is actually probably the best and easiest property for the Authority to dispose of with ease, a premises that has a significant resale value as a dwelling in a small hamlet near Audley, Wood Lane to be precise.

Why? well that was a poser that drew my attention, then it dawned, was it that this centre provided a base for a part time Post Office to serve its community. No to that thought.

The answer, well it was a little bit more devious and is an indication of how the political leaders at Newcastle have manipulated the list of Centres placed under threat. Whatever criteria for there selection it has definitely not been done fairly. This centre has just released its caretaker/key-holder as it can no longer support the position, the local Parish Council hold and have held its monthly meetings there for the last few years in an effort to create some income for the centre.

Its the Post Office that is important, it is run in a philanthropic manner by a Local Borough Councillor who according to a recent leaflet is also our future Labour Party candidate for the County Council elections. You may think that this is commendable, me I do not, it is a flagrant abuse of electoral law, the lady concerned does not live in the Borough and in fact does not live in the County, and it is the use of the employment element in the Electoral Law that enables her to be on the council.

Had the loss making Community Centre of Wood Lane closed the Labour Party would have lost not just a Borough Councillor, nor a County Councillor, but a Cabinet member INSTANTLY............. hence the gerrymandering by the leaders of the Labour Party and of the Councillors at Newcastle to keep Wood Lane Community Centre where the Post Office is based open.

How dare the reviewers of the Community Centres in the Borough treat Wood Lane in a preferential manner to the exemption of a bigger, better and more used Community Centre based in a larger Community on an excellent bus route, less than a mile away in Audley. How dare they threaten the closure of such centres of excellence in Wye Road and others in the Borough in such a cynical manner to protect the seat of a fellow Councillor.

I am interested in how the officers of the Borough came to the conclusion that a loss making building should not have been included, was it by collusion, or under duress????? Whatever the manner it STINKS, what a disgusting abuse of power and position by the leaders of the Labour Party on the Borough Council.”