GROUPS who use an Oxford community centre due to be demolished next year have warned they may be forced to close if an alternate venue is not found nearby.

Wood Farm Community Centre, in Titup Hall Drive, is set to be knocked down and rebuilt as part of a redevelopment of Wood Farm Primary School.

But members of the 23 groups which use the centre fear if they are moved into temporary homes outside the estate, their organisations may not survive.

Oxford City Council is investigating how to solve the problem.

Wood Farm Community Association treasurer Raymond Clare said: “This is one of those things that has got to happen, but so far they have offered us nowhere to go.

“They have said they will try to get the groups into other community centres, but we would rather go into a temporary building on the site.”

The centre is currently used seven days a week by church groups, parent and toddler groups, senior citizens, and is booked for up to 100 parties each year.

Mr Clare, of Nuffield Road, said: “There’s absolutely nothing else in Wood Farm. It’s the only thing we have got, which is why we want a temporary community centre on the estate, for everyone who uses it.”

Gaynor Pollard, Brown Owl for the 7th Headington Brownies, said: “I would be incredibly sad if the alternative accommodation wasn’t in Wood Farm.

“I was running a very affluent Brownie group in Headington, which I handed over, because I wanted to start Brownies in Wood Farm.

“It’s an area where they are crying out for things for children to do.

“If it was somewhere else it would be completely defeating the object, and I probably wouldn’t bother any more.”

Belinda House, of Valentia Road, has been running a parent and toddler group at the centre for more than six years.

She said: “Fair enough, we need the new buildings, but why knock something down that’s thriving?

“What we need is a temporary building, maybe on Wood Farm field or in the park, but it needs to be somewhere on the estate that we can all get access to.”

The Wood Farm Co-operative Ladies Club has used the centre since 1977. Member Doreen Whitlock, 82, of Nuffield Road, said: “I think it’s absolutely disgusting.

“If we don’t get a place of our own, these different clubs are going to stop meeting and people are never going to come back.”

Oxford City Council spokesman Louisa Dean said officers and councillors were working with the groups to try to meet their needs.

She said: “We will look at the individual needs of the 23 groups that use this facility and work with them to find suitable alternative venues.

“We are already looking at finding them suitable locations within the local area and we will discuss these venues with the individual groups.”