Lib Dems Seek Community Support For Civil Service Club

11.37.00am GMT Tue 18th Mar 2008

Malvern Link and Langland County Councillors, Clive Smith and Penelope Morgan have joined forces with Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate, Richard Burt in a campaign to help save the Civil Service Sports and Social Club (CSSC) from closure.

They want to bring together existing and potential users and National Officers from CSSC Headquarters for a crunch meeting to find out what would be needed to save the club from closure on April 30th.

They will also be delivering a survey and petition to 10,000 homes in Malvern over the next fortnight to find out residents' views on the possibility of a large supermarket at Spring Lane, and to support the retention of The Civil Service Club as a community facility.

"The loss of the Civil Service Sports and Social Club would be real blow for Malvern. The venue offers ideal facilities for sports, voluntary and community groups, and is also popular for wedding receptions and social events," said Richard Burt.

"The CSSC has been at the heart of the community in Malvern for so long and it would be a tragedy to lose it. We believe there are plenty of groups out there who could step forward to help make the Club financially viable," said Councillor Penelope Morgan.

"The closure plan has come out of the blue and we are worried about the motives. We feel sure that new and existing community users could hammer out a deal to secure the financial future if the club's bosses would sit down and talk," said Councillor Clive Smith. "There has been considerable speculation that Tesco are land-banking in a bid to build a new supermarket on the site. We have decided to ask residents a series of questions through a survey to find out local opinion on the issue," added Councillor Smith.