THE owners of a community centre have denied plotting to close the facility after a councillor said they wanted to demolish it and replace it with flats.

O-Regen, which owns and runs the Paradox Centre in the Chingford Hall estate, is refuting the claims made by Cllr Alan Siggers during the last meeting of the South Chingford and Highams Park Community Council, held in the centre.

Cllr Siggers said: "I am told that this building is going to be demolished. It was not built that long ago, but apparantly we need more flats.

"What the company that runs this will tell you is that it is not being used. But that is because it does not want it to be used."

He later told the Guardian: "If you want to close something or dispose of it, you have to make it inevitable and the easiest way is by insuring it does not get used."

Cllr Siggers announced that he, along with the two other Conservative councillors for the Valley ward, would be starting a campaign to keep the Paradox Centre open.

He said that the police Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT), who are currently in temporary offices nearby, should be moved into the centre.

However Julian Martin, chief executive of O-Regen, denied that centre demolition plans were being drawn up.

He said: "There has not been a single report taken to my board to demolish it, and not a single decision to demolish it.

"My board has been looking at how we can improve the effectiveness of the centre. It does not cover costs, and we need to make sure it is used and meets the needs of local people."

As the centre was built with money from a Government grant, it could not be demolished or undergo a change of use without the approval of the quango English Partnerships.

During the past year, the police's property services division have been in talks with O-Regen, but no agreement could be reached over leasing the premises.