Wellington Town Council is looking for volunteers to form a group to oversee the planning and building of a new community hall on the Cades Farm development.

As part of the Section 106 Agreement, signed in 2012 by the district council and the developers, a plot of land at the end of Aspin Road was set aside by Persimmon for a shop and a community hall, along with £250,000 as a contribution towards the cost of building the community hall.

The development has now reached the stage where the developers are ready to hand over the land and the district council has asked the town council to facilitate the work on the community hall on its behalf.

Dave Farrow, Wellington Town Council’s town clerk, said: “We have looked at similar projects, in particular one in Bishop’s Hull, and what is clear is that being community-led is key to the project’s success.

“The first step is to set up a management group of local residents to have oversight of the project and the first thing they will need to do is consult with the community to understand what people want from the community hall. This will then drive the design.

“While having £250,000 in the pot is nice, it will not be enough, so the group will also have to oversee fundraising activities including researching and making applications for grants”.

Mayor of Wellington Cllr Janet Lloyd said: “The town council is looking forward to working with the community in delivering this exciting project. The land and the funding are specifically linked to the building of a community hall. If we don’t deliver this the land and the money goes back to the developer.”

Town councillor John Thorne, who is also the Somerset county councillor for the Cades Farm and Jurston Farm estates, said: “This is an incredibly important opportunity for both present and future Cades residents.

“What we do now will shape the community facilities which generations of local residents will be able to take advantage of.”

Town councillor Wayne Battishill, who lives on the Cades estate, said: “This is really exciting. It is going to be an intensive and challenging project and will require real commitment to achieve the very best for our community and I am sure it will rise to the challenge.

“The clock will start ticking once we accept the transfer of this plot of land. We will then have five years to start the building work, which in construction timescales is a relatively short period time.”

Anyone interested in joining the local management group should contact Dave Farrow at [email protected] by the end of February. An initial meeting of those interested will then be arranged for shortly after that.