Possible Closure of the Shawfield Day Centre
Guildford Borough Council (GBC) Community Services has proposed the Closure of the Shawfield Day Centre to day care services. Cllr Julia McShane (Executive Lead Councillor for Community and Housing, Westborough) has approved this public consultation seeking residents’ views on the proposal that these services within Ash should cease with all older peoples’ service provision being located at the Hive in Park Barn.
Some on social media have snubbed this consultation, suggesting it is biased towards closure and is being conducted without sufficient market research.
The distance between the existing local Ash facility and the Hive is approximately 8 miles by road and takes 20 minutes to commute. Whilst community transportation is proposed, the routes may be varied and take significantly longer than 20 minutes, reducing the time spent within the facility. If this proposal is approved, many are left in doubt at the future of The Shawfield Centre itself. Without ongoing investment, this local amenity may later be permanently closed to not only day centre visitors but private groups for hall hire.
All members of the public, whether they are regular users or not, are now encouraged to participate in this consultation, before this local facility is lost forever https://www.guildford.gov.uk/olderpeoplesurvey.
Existing Day Care Centres
The Shawfield Day Centre, Shawfield Road, Ash, Surrey GU12 6QX
The Hive, Park Barn Drive, Guildford GU2 8EN
The Shawfield Centre
The Shawfield Centre is available for private hire and currently offers a range of activities which is used by various groups at different times of the day, which is in addition to day care services.
Facilities offered:
- Chiropody
- Hairdressing
- A programme of leisure and recreational activities
- Adult education
- Dining area (70 persons max)
- Conservatory
- Kitchen and coffee bar
- Disabled access
- Disabled toilets
- Car parking
Weekly Social Events:
- Snowball Bingo
- Table Tennis
- Line Dancing
- Computer tuition/assistance
- New Age Kurling
- Scrabble group
- Zumba Gold
- Seated Extend Exercise
- Scrabble group
- Art Class
- Tai Chi
Reasons for Closure
In the consultation, the Shawfield Day Centre is stated as in need of “a significant upgrade” to meet GBC’s vision for Older People’s services. The day care services provided for older people at the Shawfield Centre day care service would merge into an Activity Hub at The Hive. Here intergenerational social services are planned to run 5 days a week alongside lunch provision. Community Transport would collect all customers from across the borough to the Activity Hub. A family coffee shop, hairdresser, podiatry service, community fridge and community wellbeing programmes are also planned to run from this centre.
Consultation
The Guildford Borough Council (GBC) Lead Councillor for Community and Housing, Cllr Julia McShane, has approved this consultation to propose closing the Shawfield Day Centre service. There are two options:
- Option 1: To continue to operate two centres for older people’s provision in Guildford – The Hive and the Shawfield Centre, but with existing limited provision and services available to residents.
- Option 2: To close the Shawfield Centre to day care services for the elderly and combine provision at The Hive to provide more modernised, wider ranging activities and efficient services for all communities.
Online From
This consultation began on 20 September and closes on 31 October 2021 and is available to the wider public here https://www.guildford.gov.uk/olderpeoplesurvey.
Offline Form
If you would like to pass the survey to someone who is not online, please download copy here: Older People Services Consultation Questionnaire 20 September to 31 October and send the scanned or transcribed document to info.communityservices@guildford.gov.uk. GBC has offered no postal address to send in paper forms.
Other Consolations
A list of past and present GBC consultations can be found here https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/25059/View-past-and-present-consultations.
Join the Conversation
Have your say, leave your comments below.
When so many elderly people are in need of somewhere to go, to meet other people and have some positive interaction after months of lockdown loneliness it’s an absolute disgrace.
I think it would be a mistake to close the Shawfield Centre. It should be kept open for local people giving them easier access to activities and social contact. Older people probably would not want to travel the distance to Guildford regularly, particularly those less mobile, and not many have access to personal transport.
Big mistake needs to be open ASAP
Have they not been isolated enough recently with out taken this away from them aswell , alot who attend are local and expecting them to travel that far is not an alternative , that’s reasonable for someone of that age group
We should be more understanding of their needs and not expecting them to just accept it .
I feel Shawfield day centre is a very important facility for the community, we have an ever increasing elderly population and for it to be on the door step is so much more convenient as travelling 8 miles every time they visit a centre could and would be difficult for many elderly residents.
Please listen to this – starts 36minutes into the meeting – good discussion -and Cllr Eyre said “GBC’s” figures say £1/4million spent in 2019-2020 and £1/2million in 2020-2021 on SHAWFIELD and our councillors seem to be questioning on what money was actually spent – and method of consultation. Good listening from 0.36minutes – 0.54minutes https://guildford.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/601723?fbclid=IwAR0mplrw2_OdwDOIIyduvt7vKDCMGrMnxuJlppXyfU0mbP7cYcL8Ha-HiAg
GBC-good discussion -and Cllr Eyre said “GBC’s” figures say £1/4million spent in 2019-2020 and £1/2million in 2020-2021 on SHAWFIELD and our councillors seem to be questioning on what money was actually spent – and method of consultation. Good listening from 0.36minutes – 0.54minutes https://guildford.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/601723?fbclid=IwAR0mplrw2_OdwDOIIyduvt7vKDCMGrMnxuJlppXyfU0mbP7cYcL8Ha-HiAg
Disgraceful. How could they even consider it.
It appears that GBC have no understanding to the needs of the elderly and vulnerable of this village. Along with the proposed closure of Shawfield day centre it will also include closure of the Meadows dementia unit. This will bring great hardship to families and carers of their loved ones. Now the latest Surrey Council wanting to close Abbywood. What is happening to this area, don’t we care about our elderly?
Why has so much money been spent on re-branding Park Barn Centre as The Hive? It is shocking, and it’s not surprising that GBC are trying to close the Shawfield Centre in Ash, which is a great shame. How much is it going to cost to transport everyone from the Ash area to the Hive and back every day, to say nothing of the increased pollution! GBC have already closed one day care centre for the elderly, at North Place, in the town centre and it would be disgraceful if Shawfield Centre were to close as well.