£2.8m leisure scheme moves ahead (From Bournemouth Echo)

£2.8m leisure scheme moves ahead

8:30am Friday 19th March 2010 in

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A £2.8 million project to regenerate a central district of Shaftesbury is moving forward.

After several false starts, community leaders in the Saxon town are increasingly confident of delivering new facilities for the Barton Hill area.

The first phase of the project could see the Shaftesbury Bowling Club’s dilapidated HQ replaced with a brand new building to house indoor bowling greens.

And the new facility would also provide a home for the Shaftesbury Silver Band and the town’s judo club, as well as providing a meeting place for community groups to hire.

Neil Sutherland, the chairman of fundraising group the Shaftesbury Task Force, said the building was pivotal to a successful regeneration of the entire Barton Hill area.

“There have been several false starts with Barton Hill, but the task force has promoted a group approach which we hope will deliver a new recreation facility,” said Mr Sutherland.

The group hopes to put up the building before turning its attention to revamping the skate park, and securing a sustainable income for the Barton Hill community swimming pool.

Shaftesbury architects Philip Proctor Associates – the firm behind Sturminster Newton’s award winning Exchange arts centre – are working on plans for the new building.

Bowling club members have pledged to finance a loan for up to £100,000 to build their new HQ.

They hope to recoup their investment from hiring fees.

And community leaders are due to sit down in April with district council finance chiefs to negotiate an investment from the council’s capital programme.

Further funding is anticipated from so-called Section 106 contributions, by which private developers fund community projects.

The new recreation centre could also indirectly benefit the Barton Hill community swimming pool, which was recently given £82,000 by town councillors for urgent refurbishment to solve a condensation problem.

A meeting of the Barton Hill Joint Working Group will consider plans for the building at a meeting on March 25.