PEOPLE living on the Cades Farm development in Wellington are to be asked their views on whether they would like a community hall built on the estate.

Wellington Town Council has been offered a parcel of land along with £250,000 from the developers – as per a legal Section 106 agreement – for the building of community facilities.

Town clerk Dave Farrow told councillors on Monday – via Zoom video conferencing technology – that he had been investigating the project.

He said he had spoken to a group in Bishop’s Hull where a similar community hall project had been carried out over four years and that the £250,000 would roughly meet half of the overall costs.

“It’s do-able – they’d done it,” he said. “They have demonstrated in Bishop’s Hull that it can be done. But what is needed now is some community engagement work. When you put in applications for grant funding one of the key things they ask for is whether consultation has been carried out. We need to engage with the community in and around Cades Farm.”

Mr Farrow added: “It is a great opportunity, and one we should be taking on, but there is groundwork which needs to be done.

“There is no pressure on us to make a quick decision about this. It is a really good opportunity but we need to do it properly.”

Cllr Andrew Govier said: “This is exciting and challenging at the same time. I do like the idea of us taking this over and we are much closer to the ground than those at the district or county councils.”

For the full story, see this week’s Wellington Weekly News.