Council agrees to help fund Northstowe community facilities

Northstowe will get the “M&S of community buildings” after South Cambridgeshire District Council agreed to plug a £14million funding gap.

The new facilities were due to be funded with developer contributions, but these are no longer enough to cover the full costs of the work.

Council leader Cllr Bridget Smith (Lib Dem, Gamlingay) previously told councillors that the original provisions were now “quite historic” and added that “lessons had been learned”.

The funding for the new buildings, which will include two sports pavilions, a community building and a civic hub, was approved by councillors at a meeting of the full council today (Thursday, July 21).

Cllr Bill Handley (Lib Dem, Over and Willingham), the cabinet member for communities, said the council had an obligation to provide the buildings and that he was “pleased to say” the authority was in a good position to do so financially.

The first sports pavilion is planned to be built near to the existing sports pitches, and it will provide changing facilities as well as a multi-use club room and catering facilities.

The district council has agreed to invest £1.53m towards this facility, which will include £300,000 from the renewable energy reserve.

The phase one community building is planned to be a multi-use facility, and the district council has agreed to invest £6.5m towards building it. This will be funded from capital receipts.

The district council has agreed to invest £4.82m towards the civic hub planned in the second phase of the development, which will also be funded from capital receipts.

The authority has said this building will be the “landmark building” in the town centre and will have space for different services, including a GP surgery.

An investment of an additional £2m was also agreed for the second sports pavilion, although a council report said an exact amount needed for the project could not be estimated at the moment.

Cllr Smith said: “I am confident these are not just going to be any old community buildings, they are going to be the M&S of community buildings, they are going to be landmark facilities, which hopefully will provide a template for future community buildings .

“At a time of escalating construction costs it is a relief to me personally, and I am sure to everyone in this room, that this council is in a position to make this happen through a fully funded package.”

Councillors said they were pleased that the new community facilities would be going ahead.

Cllr Daniel Lentell (Lib Dem, Over and Willingham) said the plans to move forward with the new buildings were “really exciting” and that the Northstowe community would be “well served” by the proposals.

Cllr Sarah Cheung-Johnson (Lib Dem, Longstanton) said there was a lot of “anticipation and excitement” in the community for the new buildings.

Although work on the new community facilities will go forward, work on the enterprise zone has been paused for an initial period of 12 months.

Leader of the opposition, Cllr Heather Williams (Con ,The Mordens) asked for a report to be provided to councillors in six months on updates on what is happening with the site, which was agreed.

Cllr Williams also asked for reassurance that the land designated for the enterprise zone would not end up being used to build more homes.

She said: “Obviously the investment has not gone as we had planned, we can see that from the papers.

“What I am seeking is reassurance that the options that are looked at going forward will be of a business nature and an enterprise zone as is planned.

“Northstowe needs to thrive as a sustainable area, for that it needs business and not just housing.”

The council’s chief executive Liz Watts said the terms of the sale of the enterprise zone prohibited housing being built on it.

She explained the land is designated as an enterprise zone until 2042 and there was “no intention” to build housing on the site.