On Monday 2^nd March, the Cottonmill and Sopwell Hub committee met with the SADC Marlborough Pavilion Project Management Team.

As mentioned previously, the project is now at pre-construction stage. The council have also identified the funding, in principle, for the whole Marlborough Pavilion redevelopment project. The funding will come from a share of the capital receipt from the Leyland Avenue project (redevelopment of the old Sopwell Youth Club site) and an application to British Cycling for some additional funding.

To ensure the project keeps moving forward the council have agreed to fund this next stage, which is organising a variety of technical surveys and consultancy assessments of the site. Their results will be used to assess what the best development options are, inform the eventual design, and how to gain any necessary planning approvals.

The council have also appointed an architectural design service who have produced some concept designs for the potential new community centre. At the meeting we discussed these designs in depth and gave our feedback about what we liked and what we didn’t like in regards to the proposed layout and facility provision for our community’s needs.

The council will also be meeting with the other joint partners in this project over the next few weeks to discuss their thoughts.

We will continue to keep you informed as and when we have any new information available to us.