The Wilfrid Noyce Centre will continue to house the Community Store for the foreseeable future, despite concerns raised by some town councillors about groups being unable to use it post-Covid.

Last week's meeting of the full council was discussing a report outlining the return of groups to community facilities when the debate arose. Groups will be able to return to use community facilities from tomorrow (Monday).

The report stated that four groups had expressed a wish to resume activities at the Wilfrid Noyce Centre, but that would not be possible as the Community Store currently occupies the space.

Conservative councillor Steve Cosser told the meeting: "Our group continues to support fully the Community Store.

"However, we are now reaching the point where we have, according to this report... a small number of our community groups who would like to return to the Wilfrid Noyce Centre to carry on with their community activities.

"By the time we get to September we will have an increasing number of our community groups that will need to get back to the centre.

"They provide activities that are hugely important," he said, adding that "a lot of people will want to improve their mental health by going back into our community buildings."

"I would like more information about how we are going to address the needs of those groups who would like to return."

But council leader Paul Follows said that although some groups were asking to come back to the centre, "the Caudle Room is the only room large enough to accommodate the groups while allowing for social distancing".

"As we get to the end of 2021 more groups will want to return, and social distancing needs will change," he said.

He said the store volunteers had "a lot of good ideas" about how the store could be reconfigured to also allow other groups to use the building.

"We want to assure the volunteers that they will have a base to work from," he said.

With the end of furlough the demand for support from the store was likely to rise, he said, adding that there was a need for a successor organisation that could help meet a need "that so clearly exists, now and in the immediate future."

And he added: "It will take quite a lot of need on the other side to outstrip the food security need.

"You have to make a call. The call I will make will be to support the store."

Broadwater Park.

Of the other two community centres, Broadwater Park is currently being hired by the NHS to house staff while their own premises are used as a vaccination centre, under an arrangement that is likely to continue until the summer. All but three regular hirers are evening users, and the three day users do not intend to return until September. Casual bookings will not be allowed until all social distancing regulations are lifted, the report added. The two groups that hire the Pepperpot have continued the arrangement throughout the pandemic, and there are no barriers to allowing regular and casual bookings from tomorrow, the report said. Councillors agreed the scale of charges for the venues, agreed for the 2020-2021 period but not implemented due to the pandemic, should be carried forward for the next financial year.