Workington Regeneration, Allerdale Borough Council and Derwent & Solway Housing Association have today announced the disappointing news that plans to create a Community Centre in Westfield have had to be abandoned.
The news comes 2 ½ years after Derwent & Solway’s first involvement with community volunteers, to help them in their plans to develop a community facility in the area.
Robert Porter, Director at Derwent & Solway says:
“We are extremely disappointed at this outcome. A great deal of hard work has gone into getting the project off the ground and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their efforts. We regretfully have to inform our residents however that after an exhaustive process, we have had to conclude that the project just isn’t feasible.”
Original proposals suggested the development of the Westfield Welfare Building for use as a community centre. A survey, commissioned by Workington Regeneration was carried out by D & S, with assistance from their parent company Harvest Housing Group, in January 2004 but despite a positive response from residents who welcomed the plans, Workington Regeneration advised that 3 further criteria would have to be met before there was a chance of financial backing either from themselves or other funding bodies.
The criteria set out included that the project had to be community-led, had the ability to draw funding from other areas/organisations and that a viable business plan had to be submitted.
Unfortunately however, there was not a strong enough community representation on the project committee to make the plans viable and although it was hoped that Age Concern, who, keen to locate a base in the area had expressed an interest in the project, would hopefully act as an anchor tenant to help draw in the necessary external funding, they later advised that the scale of work required to bring the building up to standard was too great for them to consider.
The lease of the building is soon to be returned to Allerdale Borough Council.
Derwent & Solway Housing Association have said they will work closely with Allerdale Borough Council to ensure that some action is taken with the building so that it does not remain an eyesore for residents living in the area.
In the meantime Workington Regeneration recognise the deep need for community facilities in the area and have awarded £30,000 funding towards a £45,000 project to expand the provision of community activities delivered from St Mary’s Church Parish Centre on Salisbury Street.