SCRAPPING a council subsidy which helps fund a community centre in Newton Abbot would be ‘an extremely difficult pill to swallow’, it has been claimed.

Teignbridge District Council is reviewing its rent subsidy policy on its commercial buildings which include the Buckland Centre, pictured, in Gilbert Road, run by the Newton Abbot Community Interest Company (CIC).

As part of a fuller review of the assets it owns, the council will also consider whether it can afford to continue subsidising tenants.

Currently the policy allows voluntary organisations to apply for funding for two years, but at the council’s executive committee meeting this week members recommended that the Buckland Centre be permitted to apply for a further 12 months because of its current financial situation.

Cllr Colin Parker (Lib Dem, Buckland and Milber) said withdrawing its £3,150 subsidy would cause great hardship and it was likely that it would not be able to pay its rent.

‘It would be great if this subsidy could be maintained infinitum,’ he said.

‘The centre is run by the CIC and it is their home and it gives many charitable organisations, groups and individuals extensive help, in fact much public benefit derives.

‘This help is very precious especially in the cost of living crisis we are currently experiencing which is certainly a different situation than it was two years ago.’

He said without the company’s assistance, people would be even more in need of help and as well as being “invaluable” to the community, many projects had benefited, including the Courtenay Centre, the Bradley Community Centr and the possible formation of a community hub at Hele Park.

The Buckland Centre hosts parents and toddler groups, a junior youth club, the Mayflower Club for the over 55s, sport and fitness clubs, cost-of-living groups and events, coffee mornings and exercise classes.

Newton Abbot CIC was formed more than 10 years ago following completion of the Newton Abbot & District Community Plan in 2008. It aims to improve the quality of life for people living or working in Newton Abbot.

Cllr Parker continued: ‘The rent subsidy loss would be an extremely difficult pill to swallow, but for the index rent rise to be levied simultaneously it would mean in a short space of time the rent payable would go from a 50 per cent reduction to an increase of some £5,000. That is a substantial increase for a centre of that size.’

He said the two-year subsidy rule or an end to the policy altogether could be ‘the straw that breaks the camel’s back’.

He added: ‘I would find this to be very upsetting. We need to review this policy altogether especially in the case of charitable organisations and the ones providing community benefit. As it stands the policy is imperfect. Greater credit should be given to applications for a subsidy from those providing such need for the public.’

The committee recommended to the full council that organisations that were receiving rent subsidy on 31 March should be able to apply for another 12 months and that a full review of the policy takes place