A new community centre could be built in one of the most deprived areas of Caerphilly County Borough.
Plans for a community hall and resource centre in the Ty Sign estate in Risca have been submitted to the local authority.
The building in Holly Road would have the hall, a lobby, meeting room, storage room, kitchen, three gender-neutral toilets, and a fenced outdoors area for visitors.
The proposals also include a car park with space for up to 25 cars and a single light goods vehicle (LGV).
The application has been made by the Ty Sign Community Hall and Resource Centre, a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) which represents the 5th Risca Scout Group and the Agape Community Church.
Speaking in a planning document, the group said: “The area suffers from poverty, anti-social behaviour and a lack of social cohesion.
“There is a particular problem with loneliness, with a lack of facilities for the community, and particularly for the older generation.
“The proposal for a new community resource centre in Ty Sign will be part of the answer, for this part of the borough, to the need to develop a co-ordinated programme of volunteering, to create a more sustainable community to link the community with the management of open spaces and working with housing partners to contribute to a sustainable community.”
The CIO had previously called for Caerphilly council to replace the existing centre in Channel View, which is in poor condition, and suggested a new use for the space.
Such a scheme has been backed by the Pobl Group, who propose to develop the site into housing.
A council report had estimated that outstanding repair costs for the rundown Channel View building totalled £107,479 in 2014.
Members of the council’s cabinet had approved the plans in principle in March, allowing for further work and public consultation.
A questionnaire launched by the CIO attracted 135 responses, with 80 per cent of those in favour of the proposed development.
The CIO’s report says that several issues had been taken onboard, with reductions in the height of the building, size of the carpark and the development’s proximity to a house in Holly Road.
Community centres are out of date, it’s not only the cost of building them, it’s the running cost of the building. We have so many other buildings that can be used for meetings now, it seems crazy that we need to build a purpose building. There are so many community centres which aren’t used because they are not worth the money. If the council are not willing to provide them because the can’t make money, how can a community group.
Also in this day and age its difficult to find sufficient volunteers to staff these places.
They are extremely optimistic if they believe that providing a community centre will sort out their antisocial behaviour – the only thing that will reduce that is a visible police presence.
The difficulty is finding a group of people who will run a community centre as an all inclusive centre for the use of the community – not as their personal exclusive club where you need to know the secret handshake if you want to hire the hall.
Totally a waste of money.
Agree with a waste of money, this money could be spent else where.