‘Exhaustive’ application process for community centre

Locals trying to revitalise the Pyrmont Community Centre are fighting City of Sydney Council over ‘user pays’ fees they say are unfair.

The Centre’s revenue comes largely from commercial use of its facilities, and residents wanting to use the Centre are upset over having to complete what they call an “exhaustive application form” in order to apply for reduced rates.

Resident Donald Denoon, 69, said the issue came to a head recently when trying to organise a fitness session for over-55 residents.

“We were quite shocked to discover that there was an expectation that we would pay fully commercial rents…and that the only way to get an exemption of that…for a single meeting, [was] if we fill in three pages of special condition exemption arguments,” he said.

Mr Denoon stressed the staff at the community centre were not to blame.

“It’s the ambiguity of policy at the City level that makes it necessary for them to administer a totally inhumane policy,” he said.

Mr Denoon said he had made several attempts to contact the Council about the issue but had not received a response.

“I think that they may be hoping that we’ll go away if they stay silent long enough,” he said.

But he added the need for the community to have a space was paramount.

“There is nowhere in Pyrmont where we can hold a public meeting in the evening except the community centre. Unlike other suburbs, there are no church halls, there are no school halls…so we depend crucially on the community centre. To have it made unavailable to us for reasons of policy that we can’t understand is really exasperating,” he said.

City of Sydney Council failed to respond to request for comment.

A former primary school, Pyrmont Community Centre was redeveloped in the early 1990s along with the Maybanke Youth Centre and the Ultimo Community Centre using federal funds.

But while the other two centres remained listed as community centres, the Pyrmont centre was classified as ‘operational’, making it a ‘user pays’ facility.

But residents told a public meeting on September 21 the Centre was still a vibrant social centre in the 1990s, where regular informal barbecues enabled newcomers to meet older residents, and fun-runs and bus expeditions were organised.

by Gareth Narunsky