Council Updates - Youth Services, Community Centre and School

I managed to make it to this month's Town Council meeting. I had been intending to go last Thursday, when they were having an extra meeting to elect a new mayor and sort out all the sub-committees, but in the end they did that on Monday evening before the main Council meeting.
So the new mayor of Hay for this year is Rob Golesworthy, and the new deputy mayor is Ros Garrett, and there was a presentation of flowers to Fiona Howard, the outgoing mayor.
Between the first meeting and the main meeting, there was a minute's silence in memory of Ken Ratcliffe, who sadly died only the night before, I think, and condolences were expressed to Gareth Ratcliffe and his family. Ken Ratcliffe was a former mayor of Hay, too.
The main meeting began with a visit from three members of Powys Youth Service. There's a lot of concern about the community centre, which has been allowed to deteriorate badly. Hay has been waiting for a new community centre for years, and now it seems that a "fantastic new facility" is about to be built, as part of the plans for the new school. The main spokesman for the youth workers was keen to point out that the youth service was not about bricks and mortar, though - it was the activities that mattered, and it would be necessary to hire a hall or use the sports pavilion for a while in between the old community centre closing down and the new one opening. They said that the norm for use of the services was about 25% of the young people in the area, and they are getting that in the Hay area. The Youth Service provides activities and facilities for the age group 11 - 25, with the main emphasis being on the ages 13 - 19.
It was pointed out that, when the Talgarth community centre closed, some of the young people came over to join the Hay youth club, and when they got facilities back in Talgarth they may well go back there. Other activities are taking place in Talgarth Library and sports pavilion and so on.
There was some discussion of the bungalow next to the school, which has been empty for a few years, and which might be suitable for use by the Youth Service while they were waiting for new premises. However, Ellie Spencer said that the scouts had approached the County Council with the same idea, and had been told that the building is unsuitable and riddled with damp.
Meanwhile, the swimming pool at the school has been closed. It now leaks, and the heating system is dodgy - but where are Hay's children going to learn to swim?
Someone else asked what was going to happen to the money from the sale of the site of the old community centre, and the answer to that was that it would go towards the funding of the new school. Hay School will become a Community Focused School, which means that it will combine the functions of school and community centre. They will be talking to teenagers about what they want to see from their youth services shortly, as part of a more general consultation which will feed into the final plans for the school building. At the moment, the school governors and staff are looking at the plans. Then the parents will get to see them, and then the wider community, as part of a standard procedure.
Tim Organ, who made up plans for a new sustainable school building as part of the Plan B campaign, is scheduled to come and speak to the Town Council next month, and it was wondered whether it was worth him coming, when none of the ideas he's had will be used. The counter argument to this was that he was a member of the public who wished to speak to his elected representatives, and it would set a bad precedent if he wasn't allowed to do so. Also, as a trained architect, he could advise the council on the right questions to ask when they saw the plans.