Campaigners have reacted angrily to news that the borough council is still not convinced Borehamwood needs a pensioner's day centre.

Members of BAFOR (Borehamwood Action For Older Residents), a group campaigning for Borehamwood's pensioners, are angry that Hertsmere Borough Council plans to take £5,000 from the £475,000 set aside for a new pensioner's day centre and spend it on consultants.

The consultants will determine whether Borehamwood's pensioners really need a new day centre, but BAFOR claims they obviously do.

"We are in direct contact with the people who would use the centre, and they are desperate," said BAFOR's Fiona Gibbs.

"They keep asking when it is going to happen, and saying we are going to be dead before we get the new centre."

BAFOR has collected petitions, carried out surveys and written countless letters to councillors, calling for a new day centre and pointing out that having a temporary centre at the Three Ways community centre in Arundel Drive is not good enough. The centre at the Three Ways accomodates 16 pensioners, but has a waiting list. The last permanent centre, based at the Brook House residential home, had 40 places, but closed in 2000 along with rest of the home.

"We can't understand why they want to spend money on yet another survey," said Mrs Gibbs, adding that she was annoyed the council had not contacted BAFOR to ask for its opinions over where and when a new centre should be built.

But Councillor Morris Bright, in charge of the council's policies towards services for the elderly, said Hertsmere had no choice but to bring in the consultants before it could start making firm plans to build the day centre. The council would take BAFOR's surveys into account when carrying out the consultation.

"We, as a council, need to establish what the need is and what provision is necessary for the elderly population of Borehamwood."

He agreed that the council had spent far too long debating whether a day centre should be built, and looked forward to receiving the consultant's report in September, so that the council could get on with the project.

Borehamwood Community Shop's Derek Norman, who has also campaigned for a day centre, said he was glad to see the council was at last doing something, and he hoped BAFOR would be able to work with the consultants.

June 26, 2002 15:30