Last week, I joined other Councillors and Crawley Borough Council officers to launch warm spaces across the town.

Even if this will allow residents to stay warm for a few hours to save paying for their heating at home, it could result in significant savings over time.

The centres are there for everyone, including anyone who is just after a nice free cup of tea or coffee and an opportunity to warm up.   Please do pop down, as that is what they are there for, bringing communities together, so no-one should feel they are excluded from coming along.

The warm hub project requires significant staffing to run sessions. However, this is an important project for the council, which sees us supporting our communities through the challenges of the cost-of-living crisis, and I firmly believe that has to be a priority for us.  Simply put, it is the right thing to do.

We are a Labour council that will not let anyone get left behind.  It is worth emphasising the scale of what the council is providing.  I’m not aware of any council near us doing as much, or anywhere close to it.

We will aim to deliver the published programme but an up to date list of what’s happening will always be on the council’s website.

These warm hubs are a major commitment for the council.  As such, we will be monitoring usage numbers closely.

I’ll be quite upfront, if it turns out they aren’t needed as much as everyone was worried they might be, or if there’s very little demand in certain parts of the Borough, we will try and tailor this provision appropriately.  There is no point heating empty rooms.

The message to our communities is that these warm spaces are here, if you want, or need, it.  But it is very much a case of “Use It or Lose It”, if we can’t demonstrate value for money because everyone makes other arrangements, we will look to determine other ways we can be offering the optimum support to our most vulnerable residents during this cold weather.

Cllr Michael Jones

Leader, Crawley Borough Council