work on the Leigh Park Community Centre is to start within the next six months, after more than a decade of planning.
When housing and development for Leigh Park was initially approved in 1998, it was agreed that Persimmon would take on the construction of the main part of the community hall.
In the following years the project has suffered from a number of setbacks and been radically redesigned. While funding for the main part of the building has been in place for a number of years, the funding for the final section was only recently secured as part of the planning permission for 24 new houses on Leigh Park.
Persimmon will now fund the construction of the whole centre, and last week Wiltshire Council instructed Persimmon to commence construction in the next six months. It is hoped that the centre will open in 2012.
Located on land next to Palomino Place, the new community centre will include a large indoor hall which can be subdivided with curtaining doors, offices and rooms, and kitchen and toilet facilities.
John Rogers, chair of the Leigh Park Community Association (LPCA) said, “I’ve waited 12 years for this! I am very pleased and I’m sure the centre will get a lot of support – the site is nice and level, it will have good parking, and I hope we’ll have some volunteers to get it going.
“This isn’t going to be contained just in Leigh Park, this is for Westbury as a whole, and for the surrounding villages as well.”
Project will “move swiftly”
Russell Hawker, Wiltshire councillor for Westbury West and the Wiltshire Council representative on the LPCA committee, said he hoped that the centre will be up and running sooner rather than later.
“I see this moment as the point when my campaign to push everything forward, including dealing with obstructive people and changing council arrangements and policies, is nearing an end,” he said. “The focus now will be on building up the strength of the community association so that it can properly prepare to set up and run the community centre.
“A project meeting will take place next week at county hall to discuss the intended construction programme and expected timing for starting and finishing works, but early indications are that this project will now move swiftly forward and the community centre is likely to be open at any time in the second half of 2012.”
In addition, cllr Hawker said he will be working with childcare officers in pushing for the development of a separate nursery building, and it is anticipated that Wiltshire Council’s Early Years team will soon be seeking a commercial developer for the nursery site.
Get involved in creating a “first class venue”
Once the construction of the hall is complete, the Leigh Park Community Association will take on the management of the centre. They are now awaiting to find out the exact date of construction and further details so that they can plan how they will manage the hall. Ideas for uses of the hall include fitness classes, car boot sales, and a meeting point for local clubs and societies.
The Leigh Park Community Association is calling for volunteers to help get the centre up and running, as well as those who would be interested in using the hall for their own enterprises. The association will be holding their Annual General Meeting on Friday 14th October at 7.30pm at the Holy Saviour Church in Westbury Leigh.
John Rogers, chair of LPCA explained, “We’ve got the big job of generating business, and getting people interested, and we haven’t been able to do anything until now.
“We want to make it a first class venue, and I believe it can be turned into that. We ended up with an A4 sheet of paper with both sides filled with ideas for the hall. This is the potential, now the question is who would like to run them?”
If you are interested in getting involved with the community centre, contact John on 01373 858 377.
