BOROUGH council leader Justin Madders expects to have a better idea by the end of next month about whether he can help save a charity centre in the deprived Westminster area of the town.
Back in December, we exclusively revealed how the board of trustees at YMCA Ellesmere Port had reluctantly decided to pull the plug on the scheme, which supports up to 200 disadvantaged families.
Chief executive Dave Pearson said it had become a “Herculean task” each year to fund the community projects run from a base at the Christchurch Centre, the former parish church in Worcester Street.
Cllr Madders hopes to find a way of providing the necessary funding to maintain the charity but cannot progress until the council’s budget has been set and he has received a full background report from his officers.
He said: “Once the budget has been set in the middle to the end of February I will be able to look at the situation.
“The site has a fairly complicated history so I have asked my officers for a full report. When I have had that, I will look to progress it.
“It is a service we don’t want to lose but there a number of other deserving causes.”
Services at the centre ceased on December 31 last year, although family support groups will continue to run until the charity officially closes on March 31 this year.
Last week we reported how people who benefited from the services provided said it was vital the YMCA was kept open.
One volunteer said the training and support she received from the charity had helped her land a specialised job in a local primary school.
And a mother whose son suffers from ADHD said the family support groups would be a big loss.
At this stage, the charity does not know what will happen to the site, which includes a graveyard where the bodies of First World War soldiers are interred.
