Lesley Gowens outside the Cobden Centre in Halliwell: 'People are staying away because they are fed up with how things are'

REGULARS at a Bolton community centre claim council neglect is driving disillusioned users away.

They blame reduced security for increased vandalism and even a break-in at the Cobden Centre in Charlotte Street, Halliwell.

Centre users, many frail pensioners, also claim they have been forced to stand around while the centre has opened up to an hour late.

Conditions have deteriorated so much that numbers attending bingo and dinner sessions at the centre have plunged from around 90 to less than 40.

Many claim the decline stems from the council's replacement in March of a permanently on-call warden who used to live on site with a nine-to-five alternative based elsewhere.

Since then windows have been broken on several occasions, raiders have broken in through the roof and regulars complain about feeling intimidated by gangs of youths gathering outside.

Trudy Hulme, aged 82, said: "I've been coming here for 22 years. It's been a smashing club. You felt like you were coming home when you came in.

"You were comfortable, but now you are not. We are nearly all elderly and you need a bit of security. There's a lot dropped out. We used to have as many as 90 a night here but now we're lucky if it's 40."

One of the centre's younger users, 45-year-old Lesley Gowans, echoed her sentiments.

"The numbers here are diminishing," she said. "People are staying away because they are fed up with how things are. We feel the council are trying to run it down."

Bingo-goer Vera Greenwood said: "Things are going from bad to worse."

A council statement admitted there had been problems but insisted they would soon be resolved.

"There is a temporary problem at Cobden Community Centre while the new warden is off ill. We have been using Careline to stand in and open up the centre when it needs to be used, but it has led to delays on just a few occasions when they have been busy.

"Users at other centres have keys and this is the solution we are looking at for the Cobden Centre. The previous warden moved away which is why we had to find a new one."