Next steps in £3.8 million Telford community centre plan revealed
A Telford parish council is gearing up to begin the process of building a brand new £3.8 million community centre.
Lawley & Overdale Parish Council was recently given planning permission for the new centre to be built on land off Bryce Way, near Lawley Village Primary Academy.
Councillor Mark Boylan, who chairs the parish council, said: “Without any issues arising we are hopeful of the building being started in September or October this year.
“It could then take 11 or 12 months to build, and we want to get it right.”
The council is ‘shortly’ to set out on searching for a contractor and officials say they have already been contacted by ‘a couple of companies’ looking at submitting tenders.
Following the end of the tender process, the council intends to make a decision on awarding the contract at a meeting held in public, the Local Democracy Reporting Service was told.
The move to replace the current community centre in Arleston Lane attracted some criticism from members of the public concerned about their council taxes being increased to help pay for it.
The parish council has arranged a 40-year loan through Telford & Wrekin Council which has meant a 44 pence per week increase on Band D council taxes to repay the costs.
But parish councillors agreed that the new centre is needed in the expanding area which now numbers 14,000 residents and rising.
The fast developing Station Quarter area is in the parish patch and there is a planned development of 230 properties off Arleston Lane,.
Council officials believe the parish population will increase to a potential 15,000 residents by the end of 2028.
“We could have sat and talked about it for another five years,” said Councillor Boylan. “Sometimes it is about pushing things forward.”
Council officials say that they are currently having to turn potential bookings away because the current Lawley Community Centre is too small. Fire regulations mean that its one hall can only be used by 80 people.
The new community centre has plans for a hall that can take 200-250 people, plus two rooms with a capacity of 16 each. The centre will also provide a new base for parish council staff.
Officials believe it will achieve a profit for the parish in about two years through takings from being hired by community organisations and public bodies.
Ideas being floated include quiet study rooms for students and for the space to be used to help tackle social isolation among the elderly.
The current community centre, an old Victorian school, already hosts a children’s nursery on five days a week during term times, yoga sessions, a bridge club, and a youth club.
Officials say there will be restrictions on parties held at the new centre, its opening hours. Among the new centre’s facilities will be its own car park.
