Charity makes ‘extremely difficult but necessary decision’ to stop three Northampton community hubs

Last month, three staff members were informed the day before the planned closures that they were being made redundant – and the leader has taken the leap to continue running the groups voluntarily on donations.

The impacted hubs were located at community centres in Semilong, Briar Hill and Bellinge, which are operated by Community Spaces Northampton (CSN). The community centres are leased by CSN from West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) for activities like hubs.

The weekly community hubs in question provided warm and welcome environments where people could drop in for a drink, hot food, conversation, clothes, activities and much-needed support.

‘The community hubs saved a lot of lives’

Community hub leader Jo Morris was among the three staff members made redundant on July 8 before the closure of the community hubs the following day.

Jo told the Chronicle & Echo that her fellow employees were hired six and 18 months prior to the closures, which has raised questions about why the recruitments happened if CSN knew they were in financial troubles.

“We were told the community hubs were closing with immediate effect due to financial reasons, and we weren’t given any more information,” said Jo.

She confirmed that the below statement provided by CSN lines up with what they have been told since the redundancies, but they were previously unaware that the funding was going to run out and it came as a “massive shock”.

Jo added that the community hubs had a “huge impact” on the Northampton community and they “saved a lot of lives”.

“We had service users who were lonely and others who had been bounced around different services,” said Jo. “They had no specific health issue but just needed support and people to talk to. They didn’t have anywhere to go.”

When asked how the news of the closures made her feel, Jo said: “It was devastating. We were upset about the hubs closing, but more upset about the service users and volunteers being let down.”

The three former staff members are now running the hubs with generous donations from the community, which will see them through the summer holidays until September 11 when the money will run out.

The donations have enabled Jo to pay her two staff members to run the community hubs throughout the summer holidays, which she says is a “really important time”. Jo says they are renting the spaces from CSN in order to do this.

Jo plans to set up a CIC of her own but said: “I want to use my time to support my staff team and our service users, not be constantly on my laptop chasing donations and meeting with different funding sources.”

Jo confirmed that CSN has been “quite supportive” of what they are doing now and there was mention of them potentially applying for new funding during a meeting, but she has not heard anything since.

‘We know it made a real difference to those who attended’

When approached by this newspaper, the trustees from Community Spaces Northampton said: “The closure of our Community Engagement Hub programme – which ran for two hours per week at three of our centres – was an extremely difficult but necessary decision by the Board of Trustees to safeguard the future of Community Spaces Northampton.

“We are now working hard to secure funding, invest in our centres, and develop partnerships with local organisations to deliver new programmes that will serve our community.

“Community Spaces Northampton operates 10 community centres in Northampton, open 12 hours a day, seven days a week. We facilitate over 120 groups weekly, with 4,000 people coming through our doors each week.

“The Community Engagement Hub programme provided drop-in support and hot meals at Semilong, Bellinge and Briar Hill centres, and we know it made a real difference to those who attended.

“Following our regular organisational review in April 2025 – a standard practice for responsible charity governance – it became clear that without sustainable funding, continuing the Hub programme would jeopardise our ability to maintain our 10 community centres serving 4,000 people weekly.

“The programme's original local authority grant ended 18 months ago. Despite multiple grant applications, we were unsuccessful in securing replacement funding. We conducted a full consultation process with HR expertise to ensure everything was managed properly.

“The programme ran for three years – initially grant-funded by the local authority. When that funding ended 18 months ago, trustees voted to continue supporting it from our own budget while we actively sought replacement funding through multiple grant applications, which were unfortunately unsuccessful.

“Staffing decisions during this period reflected our continued hope that funding would be secured and our commitment to maintaining service continuity while all options were explored.”

The trustees say they understand the value this programme brought to participants’ lives and they are actively in discussions with WNC, charities and partner organisations about new programme models.

They are also exploring partnerships where they provide space while other organisations deliver services, offering a more sustainable model than direct recruitment, and are working to ensure affected service users can access alternative support.

The trustees concluded by saying that CSN’s core mission continues, with 10 centres open 84 hours per week and hosting more than 120 organisations.

The ‘Save Our Hubs’ campaign

The redundant staff members from the community hubs are now collaborating with Northampton Against Cuts on the ‘Save Our Hubs’ campaign.

Northampton Against Cuts is calling on WNC to run the three vital community hubs permanently and for the redundant staff members to be hired with council rates of pay, among other demands.

Northampton Against Cuts stands firm that community hubs can dramatically reduce pressure on adult social care by providing basic support and social interaction for adults, as well as those with mental health struggles or learning disabilities.

The group also believes that hubs offer vital support for low income families, which can reduce costs on children’s services for the local authority.

‘The funding in question was from a grant allocated to support with the impact post-pandemic’

WNC were also contacted by this newspaper and a spokesperson issued this statement: “Our Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations play an important role in supporting our residents and as a council, we work alongside these organisations to help deliver better outcomes for our communities.

“The funding in question was from a grant allocated to support with the impact post-pandemic, focusing on mental wellbeing and tackling isolation. This funding grant came to an end, however since 2021, Community Spaces Northampton (CSN) have received £153,426.94 in grant funding via various funding pots to support a number of programmes and initiatives, including art and wellbeing sessions and gentle exercise classes at Briar Hill Social Club, hall hire and resources at Bellinge Open House, and education and creative activities for home educated children at Semilong Learning Hub.

“CSN’s venues remain open and active in serving the local community and our teams are working in close partnership with them to explore opportunities moving forward.

“The council regularly promotes new and updated grants available for all VCSE organisations to apply for which can be found on our website.”

No response was issued by WNC when asked about the demands of the Save Our Hubs campaign launched by Northampton Against Cuts.