Youth room for Weaverham given go ahead

4:10pm Saturday 22nd November 2008

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A PROJECT to build a youth and community room at Weaverham Community Centre has been given the go ahead after Vale Royal Borough Council awarded it a £240,000 grant.

The Executive group approved the grant for the centre on the condition that details of match funding are supplied.

I believe that this project has become a social necessity

Eileen Bland, Weaverham parish councillor

The grant will go towards a total project cost of £374,000 to build a youth and community room on the existing community centre.

The room will be a dedicated space for young people aged 15 to 19.

Speaking at the meeting on Thursday, November 13, at Wyvern House, Winsford, Clr Frank Dolphin, said: “The community association has been beavering away for a long time to raise match funding.

“I believe the project has become a social necessity. Weaverham has more than its share of vandalism and the youth club doesn’t welcome older children as they take a great deal of looking after.”

Eileen Bland, Weaverham parish councillor, said it had been a long hard slog and three years of fundraising to get where they are now.

“There’s still a lot of hard work to do but it’s good news,” she said.

“It is all ready to go and there’s a lot of preparation work on the admin side.

“It has to be project managed – we are not builders – and that’s one reason the cost is high. The structure of the building doesn’t lend itself to having extensions.

“Yes it’s costly but when you start to break down the way we have to do it and why, it’s a lot of money.”

The new room will be able to split in two, giving the chance for two groups to be able to use it at the same time.

Eileen added: “It’s what we have needed for a long time. When we do larger events we don’t have the space at the moment but this will allow the community to have a bigger, extra space.

“The youth club do a smashing job with the younger children but the older children don’t really mix so it’s a place for them to go.”