Whitton Community Centre could be faced with closure within the next 12 months after being told it would need to pay thousands of pounds in rent.

The centre, as well as the ETNA Community Centre in East Twickenham, has historically never paid rent to Richmond Council.

But both centres received notice earlier this month that rent subsidies will cease from April 2016, when they will be charged “market rents”.

It is believed the council would charge Whitton Community Centre, which has been in the building since 1972, about £60,000 a year, sparking fears for its future.

A source close to the centre said: “If it is charged full rent then yes, it possibly would close – it will affect the centre in as much as it cannot afford to pay the rent.

“There have not been any meetings with the council so there have been no negotiations as yet.

“I’m not really sure [if the centre could stay open] but as it stands at the moment, probably not.”

The council reviewed rent subsidies and agreed a new policy in 2011, with the objective to “provide a level playing field of funding for all voluntary organisations and rationalise historic rent subsidy arrangements”.

A council spokesman said: “The association is valued by the local community and the council is working with them to develop their services.

“This will enable them more opportunities to thrive and will help to put them on to a more sustainable footing, including agreeing a funding arrangement that will recognise the full costs of running the association.

“This will not change the overall balance of funding available, only the mechanism by which the association will be funded.”

The ETNA Centre said the council would discuss the matter after the general election, but Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, said the council is “sweeping the issue under the carpet”.

He said: “The council’s thinking is narrow and short-term – the voluntary sector and community groups are critical to our functioning as a society. “A penny-wise, pound-foolish approach for funding would do great damage.”

Whitton Councillor Liz Jaeger, who sits on the management committee of Whitton Community Association, said the move to charge rent was “disgraceful”.

She said: “They [the council] have just been dilly-dallying around for years leaving community centres in the dark. I think the council needs to give them some certainty one way or another.”