By Robert Andre Emmanuel
United Progressive Party caretaker for the St John’s Rural South constituency Gladys Potter has called on its current MP Daryll Matthew to assure residents they will have a community centre following the demolition of a long incomplete structure in the Golden Grove area.
The unfinished structure was originally planned, back in 2009, to serve as a community centre for the area, under the then UPP administration.
However, after 15 years of inaction to complete it, residents complained that it had become a hub for criminal activities.
The Development Control Agency (DCA) recently destroyed the building, citing foundational instability.
However, Potter said MP Matthew needs to assure residents that they will get their promised community centre.
“With some help, I was able to get a structural engineer to come in and give me a second opinion and the engineer’s report stated that the building was sound.
“The [demolished] building was so sound that they found they could not destroy the foundation, so the foundation sits on a field presently, instead of completing the building and presenting it to the St John’s Rural South residents with a state-of-the-art community centre,” Potter said.
Images from the site showed a red shipping container where the demolished building once stood.
Potter said providing a community centre, in her view, would be a positive development for the area and its young people.
Observer media reached out to MP Matthew for a comment. He said the intention was to instead create an outdoor gym and police outpost at the site.
He said the DCA was the agency that had deemed the building structurally unsound.
“What we will be using is a retrofitted container and, given the small size of it and the small size of the requirements for the area, the police deemed it is fit,” Matthew said, explaining that the container would be painted and fitted with all the amenities needed for police operations.
Potter responded by saying while that was a welcome move, she believes that a community centre is still important.
“It is good, but I believe if we had a community centre, there could have been an area where you have a police outpost in the same building, because that was an idea that was discussed with residents before so it shouldn’t be just a police outpost exclusively,” Potter said.
However MP Matthew claimed that building and maintaining a community centre is too costly.
“Persons speak of community centres all the time but if someone can show one or two community centres within Antigua and Barbuda that have been successfully established and run, I’d be happy to go and have a look at it.
“What is required is not necessarily a community centre, but a space where residents can come and carry out different activities, whether it is community meetings, whether it is classes,” MP Matthew said.
He referenced the new wing of the Golden Grove Primary School which has been used for after-school classes.