The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A recent steering group meeting, attended by members of the Wygate Park community, trustees of South Holland Community Church and Community Lincs.
A long-awaited community building for Wygate Park in Spalding has been given fresh impetus and feasibility by a partnership with South Holland Community Church.
A £500,000 multi-purpose project is being proposed on land near the new Wygate Park Academy.
The project steering group, which includes South Holland ward district councillors Roger Gambba-Jones and Christine Lawton, is hoping the building would become a hub for a wide range of community groups and activities.
Residents from the estate which has about 700 homes will be surveyed on what they would like to see made available.
Coun Lawton said: “This community building and home for the church would be a unique collaboration.
“It could be used by brownies, cubs, scouts and guides, as a pop-in centre, a coffee shop, a church and many other uses. We want the community to let us know what their aspirations for it are.”
South Holland Community Church, which currently operates from Ayscoughfee Hall School in London Road, has been saving for a number of years with a view to having its own base.
Additional funding for the project is expected to come from a Section 106 agreement and grant funding once residents’ desires have been identified.
Kevin Taylor, an elder with the church, said: “From our point of view it’s not a building for the community, more the building of a community.
“We have wanted to have our own building for a long time, somewhere we’re able to use seven days a week which we can use to reach out to the community.
“We’re known as South Holland Community Church and our remit is not just to a specific area of Spalding and not just to the wider area of Spalding but to the whole of South Holland.”
Coun Gambba-Jones admitted the prospect of a church and community using the same facilities had presented “challenges” but it was a union worth developing.
He said: “They (the church) are the ones who are most certain to be there for the long term, whereas others (users) might be distracted by life.
“We can’t find any model to match this anywhere in the country.”
He added: “All things being equal we hope to have the survey out by the end of the summer.”
The survey will also appeal for offers of help during the planning stage and with the management of the building.
Coun Gambba-Jones said the location of it would rule out its use as a nighttime “party venue” to avoid the possibility of noise nuisance.
South Holland Community Church has been in existence in one form or another for around 40 years, the last ten of which based at Ayscoughfee Hall School.
Mr Taylor said: “On the back of completion of the new school building, we feel the time and location would be ideal.
“What we would like to be able to do is to run a youth group, mother and toddler drop-in, senior drop-in and all the type of groups which other community churches are involved in.”
The project involves Community Lincs, a Lincolnshire County Council support organisation which helps communities wishing to create facilities.
