| The St Mary’s Association of Residents and Tenants (SMART) recognised the housing estate has been beset with social problems for years and felt it lacked a proper community focus.
They got together and put their plans for creating a new heart for the community into action.
It is thought the new community centre will cost over £500,000 to build and finish and the group has been working hard to secure most of this.
They have received £200,000 of community regeneration money, and £110,000 from the Army Cadet Force, which has been promised an allocated space at the new centre.
The group has applied for European funding and, if successful, hopes to start work on site in February, and be open next August.
Alice Bovill chairperson of SMART, said, “We need a heart back in St Mary’s — a place people can relate to and call their own.
“This facility will belong to the community, which we feel will really help to bring back the feeling of community spirit. We want it to be as open and accessible as much as possible for the people of the area.”
The centre will have a community hall, two meeting rooms, a kitchen and space for the cadets. Alice believes it will benefit the whole estate.
“We have all the agencies working together and if we could get people a focus — an identifiable base, a community shelter — I think that would be very positive,” she said.
“We are hoping to help people with literacy skills, money advice, and have a job shop and anti-poverty advice. It will hopefully benefit the whole community.”
At a fun day in St Mary’s last Saturday, SMART handed out a questionnaire.
Alice continued, “We got a great response. There was 100% agreement that we need a community centre in St Mary’s, 94% of people said they would use it and 30 people said they would like to be part of the group that will run it.
“Another thing which became apparent was that most people travel out of the area to use facilities. We don’t even have a play park in St Mary’s so it is obvious this is greatly needed.” |
