Lib Dems promise to help Sea Cadets

9.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 28th Sep 2007

Cllr Richard Church has vowed to help the Sea Cadets secure premises

Liberal Democrats have voted to help Northampton Sea Cadet Unit to resolve a crisis over premises and future funding.

Last night it was revealed the unit had submitted a request to renew its lease to the then Tory-run Borough Council over 12 months ago. Chronic delays in processing the lease have consequently led to a crisis in which the unit could find itself homeless and unable to secure external funding.

Cllr Richard Church, Cabinet member for Regeneration, promised to deal with the issue as a matter of urgency:

"The Sea Cadets do some very important work for the town and I'm extremely dismayed at the lack of action under the previous administration.

"There has clearly been a breakdown in communication between the council and the unit, and we will seek to resolve this and learn the lessons as fast as we can.

"We are determined to see the Sea Cadets are given the best deal possible, so that they can continue the sterling work they do for the town."

Council voted unanimously to refer the motion to a future meeting of the Cabinet to resolve.