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Council support for the new Cherry Hinton Hub

Posted On November 1, 2021 at 8:23 pm by / Comments Off on Council support for the new Cherry Hinton Hub

We have received some very exciting news about the funding of the Hub project. Here is a copy of the press statement that has been put out by Cambridge City Council.

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Additional funding support was approved at Cambridge City Council’s Strategy and Resources Committee for a new community hub for Cherry Hinton, which means it can now go ahead. A professional team will be appointed next to complete technical design work and to start construction.

A review of community facility provision completed by the city council in 2017, identified a gap in community spaces in this area of the city, and new community facilities has been a strategic priority for the council with publication of the Community Centres Strategy.

Residents have worked together for many years to raise funds and to bring forward plans for new community hub. In 2018 they began working in partnership with the City Council and County Council on a scheme to extend the existing library building on the corner of the High Street and Colville Road.

The architects Ingleton Wood Martindales were appointed to develop plans for the library extension, and planning permission was granted in 2020 for the new hub that will include fully accessible new meeting rooms, a new community café and garden, toilets, and a new improved library space.

The library is in the centre in Cherry Hinton and ideally placed to become a hub for the whole community, where residents will be able to come together to have meetings, host activities and events, to have a coffee, access important local support services…and still borrow a book!

Residents have formed the Cherry Hinton Community Benefit Society (CHCBS) that will manage the hub and recruit local volunteers to help run the new café and meeting rooms and look after the new outdoor garden.

The city council has agreed to provide £492k of capital funding and has allocated £197k Section 106 developer funding contributions towards the building costs to enable the hub scheme to be delivered in a single phase to minimise disruption.

In addition, the county council have allocated £28k of section 106 funding, and £50k of local funding will be raised to contribute towards costs.

Following planning approval, the architects will now complete detailed and technical design work for the scheme so that building work can then begin. Local residents will be kept engaged and informed regarding progress and a date for work on the site.

New community facilities for Cherry Hinton were identified by the council as a strategic priority with completion of the Community Centres Strategy, and I am delighted that we will now be able to address this gap, which will make an enormous difference to people in Cherry Hinton. The extension will create a fantastic refurbished and extended building. Developing local facilities like the Cherry Hinton Hub has become even more important following the pandemic to reduce isolation and help people to connect with each other, and access vital local support services.

Cllr Anna Smith, Executive Councillor for Communities at Cambridge City Council