|
As
a result of widespread popular support,
SADCIC's flagship
project was to be the creation
of an exciting Community
Enterprise Centre, by 2013,
based
on the to-be redundant
Saxmundham
Middle School site.
SADCIC has
formed a Joint Project Board
with
Suffolk County Council to work on a
Feasability
Report and Business Plan
for
the proposed Community Enterprise Centre.
The
Community Enterprise Centre
was seen as
a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
- to
provide a major community hub
for social, leisure, health and employment
in the IP17 district.
To
download a 2 page document
on
the original proposition for a
Saxmundham
Community Enterprise Centre,
click here
This
Community Enterprise Centre would
have housed
some
public sector/social
enterprise staff,
along
with
many
new all-day/all-week community
amenities,
including
community groups and
"after-school" clubs:
Phase
1
- Public
Library /
LEAP (Local Employment Access Project) /
Community Learning / Information,
Advice and Guidance* /
Tourist Information / Navigation Centre
- Main
Hall with Stage (for indoor sports, shows, performances
etc)
- Outdoore Sports
Area (eg Basketball, 5-a-side Football)
- Changing
rooms, showers etc
- Social
Care Day Room + facilities
Phase 2
- Multi-media
Area (including Recording Studio / Community Radio Station)
- Fitness
Room / Community Gym
Phase 3
* =
priority focus on:
• Energy
• Information & Communications
• Food, Drink and Horticulture
• Tourism and Hospitality
The
co-location of services at a single point not only reduces
running costs (shared resources/collaboration) but also
makes
the venue much more attractive to
local users, in a rural community.
The
Community Enterprise Centre was set to become a
"24/7" hub -a local service cluster
-
to
encourage and support the
economic,
social, health and environmental wellbeing
of
ALL the
people of
Saxmundham
and
the surrounding area.
To
see the
Saxmundham
Community Enterprise leaflet,
please click
here.
Suffolk County Council produced a feasability and costing report and, while waiting for the Middle School to close, invited SADCIC to lease the greatly under-utilised old 'Saxmundham Resource Centre' - to develop it as an interim make-shift community centre - with the idea that everything could be transferred to the old Middle School building as soon as it became available and 'hit the ground running...
However, at the eleventh hour, a group of local parents made a bid to retain the building for educational use (which had priority over community use).
Although submitted with a weak business plan the idea was rescued by the Seckford Trust, aiming to set up multiple free schools in Suffolk. And, in due course, the Saxmundham Free School was established...
|
