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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 24 October 2008

Town Hall chief executive John Foster

Day centre users win apology

THE Town Hall has apologised for the way it has treated users of Ashley Road mental health day centre in Archway.
Council chief executive John Foster visited the centre on Friday with Lib Dem councillor Andrew Cornwell, who opposed the closure, Lib Dem social services chief Councillor John Gilbert and social services director Sean McLaughlin.
Ashley Road had been due to close under plans for a merger with Lambo Centre in Archway, but, under intense public pressure, Cllr Gilbert agreed in September to keep it open. Mr Foster said after the visit: “I was able to say we’d made some mistakes. We’d learned lessons from the service users and that the council was sorry for any distress caused in terms of the time taken to review the decision. These are vulnerable adults and I wanted them to understand and recognise that we did make some mistakes.”
Mr Foster pledged to keep the centre open during a £120,000 refurbishment. Users had feared they would be moved temporarily during the work.
“We said we’ll just repair it with you in situ,” he said. “By telling them we were keeping it open but then saying we were going to move them temporarily we just added to their concern.”
Peter Djerkalis, who has been campaigning to save the centre said: “It takes a big man to apologise the way he did. I was touched, but Ashley Road users have really suffered with the threat of closure hanging over us for a year. We’ve been treated like second-class citizens.”
He warned that there were still concerns about a planned budget cut – from £187,000 to £75,000 a year – and new eligibility criteria that would exclude many current users.
“They want to substitute volunteers for professional staff,” he said. “Ashley Road will be turned into a glorified job club on a shoestring budget.”

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