Henfield Day Centre to be handed over to the community

The County Council and the Henfield Community Partnership have been working together for almost a year on how Henfield Day Centre can be best used for the benefit of the wider community and how the needs of its current users can be best met.

Peter Catchpole, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, has agreed to the transfer of the centre to a Social Enterprise set up by Henfield Community Partnership who will deliver an on-going specialist day service from this summer.

The decision will come into effect at the end of the call-in period. ‘Call in’ is a process whereby Members of West Sussex County Council could ask for decisions to be reviewed. The deadline for call-in is 5pm on March 26.

Peter said: “I am delighted we have got to this point where we can agree to transfer control of the centre.

“This is just the start of the process however, and there is a lot more work that we and the Partnership need to complete before the centre is transferred.

“We all want to make the centre feasible and sustainable in the long term. I look forward to working with the partnership on this.”

Henfield Community Partnership Chairman, Tony Jackson, said: “This is really excellent news for local people. We intend the re-launched centre to be vibrant and welcoming with lots of activities to help people live well and keep active. We are pleased to have Impact Initiatives, a well-known local charity, as our lead care provider.”