RESIDENTS have given the thumbs up to a massive community centre project.
A public consultation in Upton revealed an overwhelming majority of respondents support moves to knock down and rebuild the pavilion building on Wealstone Lane.
Lib Dem councillors favour selling parish council owned green space at Marl Heyes to fund the new project – possibly to a company building affordable homes.
The result could be a multi-purpose building housing function rooms, the library and doctor’s surgery.
After 3,750 questionnaires were sent out, a total of 733 residents responded and 585 of those indicated they back the plans.
Threatened with a council tax rise, only 71 said they would be happy for the cash to be raised with an increase in the parish council’s precept.
A minority of 81 said “no” to both funding choices or did not answer the question, but 40 of those said “yes” to one building option. Six said “yes” to both options of funding.
The questionnaire asked which facilities people would like to see in a new community centre.
The most popular responses were a centre that caters for all age groups, has year-round toilet facilities and large meeting and function rooms.
The least popular was a plan to incorporate the centre with a doctor’s surgery but even that garnered the support of more than 40% of respondents.
Other facilities received majority support including services which support young families and new sports facilities.
The form also asked residents what their preferred method of replacing the current pavilion building is.
A narrow majority of 51.4% supported demolishing the building and extending the library to form one multi-functional building while 44% said they would rather see the library left where it is and the pavilion replaced with a slightly larger building.
Some insisted there were enough buildings in the area that could house the new centre while others, in roads surrounding the field at Marl Heyes, opposed its sale.
