Board told to leave Malcolm X Centre

The board of the Malcolm X Centre in St Paul’s has been told it must leave the property amid accusations of mismanagement.

The city council said it will evict the organisation which runs the community centre in February, alleging that it has breached its lease by illegally subletting and failing to inform the council about changes to the building.

The centre was built in the early 1980s following riots in St Paul’s to improve cross-cultural relations and provide community support.

Vice chair of the Malcolm X Centre Ltd, Amirah Cole, told Bristol24/7 that the organisation had been served notice in August last year and had since be told it had breached its lease.

She accepted that there had been mismanagement issues, but said they had been addressed. She denied there had been breaches of the lease, adding that the centre was being treated unfairly and would fight the council eviction.

Mayor George Ferguson said the community centre would stay open if the eviction goes ahead.

In a letter received in the summer last year the council accused the current board of mismanagement and failing to provide a “robust” business plan.

Subsequent letters accused the board of “substantial breaches” of the lease of the two buildings on City Road, including failing to notify of alterations to the buildings internally and externally and subletting without consent.

Cole said issues in the first letter were being addressed and denied the subsequent accusations. She said: “The problem is that Bristol City Council has never been clear with us. We had a members’ meeting with council officers where they told us they had faith in the current board.

“We’ve showed the council we are moving forward as an organisation and now we faced with court proceedings.”

She added that the council had not been clear with them about what they required in order to withdraw the eviction notice. “It is improper, they way they have acted. It is as though they are clutching at anything to evict us.”

The Malcolm X Centre had its council funding cut from £70,000 to £35,000 a year in 2010 and funding was temporarily withheld in 2013, shortly after the current board took over and inherited a £30,000 debt. Ten years after the centre was opened in 1983 the group running it was dissolved, due to financial mismanagement.

The council’s move to evict the current board comes after it withdrew its funding to St Paul’s Carnival last year due to a “loss of confidence” in the board.

A carnival day-event was held at the Malcolm X Centre last September in place of the cancelled full-scale street party.

Responding to questions from Cole about the Malcolm X Centre at a meeting of full council in December, the mayor said: “Council has served notice on the management of the Malcolm X community centre and again, this is incredibly important, not to the community centre itself.

“The community centre will continue to stay open with all of the facilities and services being provided for the community, exactly the same as the current arrangement.”

The council said on Tuesday that it was now “seeking expressions of interest” for organisations to take over the running of the centre at the end of February. It is also inviting applications to take over the lease from April 2017.

Ferguson added: “We have an over-riding responsibility to see that our buildings are properly managed in the best interests of the city and community, and in this case we are making provision to support the current organisation to remain in the building and continue to run their activities. I am hopeful of a good outcome for all.”