OXFORD City Council has instructed its lawyers to help it take back one of its community centres.

The council had planned to take control of East Oxford Community Centre on Monday because of long-standing concerns about the way it is being run.

But protesters prevented the handover from going ahead and forced the council to reconsider its options.

Now city council leader Bob Price has said the authority will begin legal proceedings to remove East Oxford Community Association if the trustees refuse to cooperate.

Mr Price said: “We have spoken again to the trustees of the community association and pointed out that there was a clear agreement on the transfer on Monday.

“We cannot allow the public interest to be handled in this particular way and we are taking it very seriously to make sure that the community centre meets its objectives.”

Mr Price refuted claims that the council is trying to take back the community centre so it could redevelop the site, branding them as “nonsense”.

The Labour councillor said a decision on how the council would proceed would be made in the next week or so.

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