A COMPUTER hub which was opened up to attract more people now has fewer users than before, the group that used to be its only occupant, claims.

The hub, in the Blackbird Leys Community Centre, was the home of the Leys Information Technology Zone (LITZ), which ran free computing courses for residents.

The group rented the room for £2,500 a year, but in April, Oxford City Council introduced an hourly rent system to allow other groups to use the space.

LITZ claimed the move would triple its overheads, but despite an agreement where groups could rent the room for £7.50 for a three-hour period, LITZ decided it could not continue.

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In June, after a £21,750 refurbishment which saw 12 new computers installed, the hub was reopened.

But LITZ claims it is not being used as much as it should. On average LITZ would teach 40 people a week over three courses; the council says the hub is now used by about 16 people a week during public drop-in sessions.

Nick Tills, director of LITZ, said: “It is a complete farce, absolutely ridiculous. The council said we had to leave because more people would use the room without us, but fewer people are using it now. You go in and the room is just empty.”

But the council insists that the hub is being used more.

Spokesman Chofamba Sithole said that, as well as the drop-in sessions, the council is running a course for 11 people and that children from the Blackbird Leys Adventure Playground have access to the room after school.

He said: “The council has increased use of the hub since the departure of LITZ. Previously, no courses were run through school holidays, but we’ve changed this.

“We are confident the numbers of both training providers and users will rise steadily as word gets out to the community and as new users are engaged.”

He said the hub was still open to LITZ, which could rent the room to keep its courses going.

But Mr Tills, 52, said that LITZ could no longer run courses in the hub because of the changes.

He said: “No one can save anything to the computers – as soon as you log off it’s wiped.

“Our courses run over six weeks, so that would mean every single one of our students would need to save their work on a memory stick.

“If any of them lost their memory sticks then all of their work would be lost.”

Lydia Barker, 78, used LITZ’s courses for the elderly in March. She said: “LITZ were supposed to do another course for us and we never heard anything because of the room change.”



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