Disabled man slams council’s decision to delay reopening of Chesterfield adult day care centre

Adrian Rimington, of Horsley Close, had hoped to return to Chesterfield Community Centre after all Covid restrictions were lifted on Monday, July 19 – the so-called ‘Freedom Day’.

But the 64-year-old disability rights campaigner says he was left frustrated and disappointed to be told it would not reopen until October at the earliest.

Having been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Adrian is a regular user of the Tontine-Road based centre which hosts various community support groups but has not been able to visit since the pandemic closed its doors last March.

He said: “Before the pandemic we used to have a group meeting once a week.

"Freedom Day was July 19 – all shops and even nightclubs can reopen but, for reasons best known to themselves, Derbyshire County Council aren’t opening the place until October.

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"They’ve not communicated it to us. We’ve been phoning on a regular basis and they’ve just been saying that when they find it safe to reopen they will write to the groups and notify them.

"When Boris introduced Freedom Day we thought ‘that’s it, we’re in’. I spoke to a person on the phone and he just took the line that the county council says it is not reopning until October and beyond that I asked him a few probing questions and he responded that he wasn’t allowed to comment.

"We had a mental health group there but of late we’ve been having disability campaigners meetings there.

"We’ve had to meet in Queen’s Park or members back gardens but Tontine Road is a good convenient venue.”

Adrian says there is a covenant on the building which states it must be available for mental health community groups.

He now believes the reason for not reopening is because Derbyshire County Council don’t want to give such groups access to the centre.

A Derbyshire County Council spokesperson said: “We are currently looking at how we can reinstate the use of a number of our buildings by community groups in a controlled and safe way given the current levels of Covid-19 cases, and Tontine Road is one of those that is currently under consideration as part of this ongoing work.”

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