Suffolk sports pavilion and village hall to benefit from share of £223k investment package
Belle Vue park, in Sudbury, will also get new disabled parking spaces
A sports pavilion and village hall in Suffolk will benefit from part of a £223,000 investment package.
Members of Babergh’s cabinet met earlier this week to discuss the latest allocation of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) investment.
CIL money is a statutory planning contribution charged to building developers and collected by local councils to fund infrastructure projects such as road schemes, schools and leisure centres.
Cabinet members unanimously agreed to approve six community bids totalling £223,866.
The largest of these bids was made by the Boxted and Hartest Institute for energy works to the village hall on The Green, Hartest, costing £65,810.
The money will be used to make the building more energy efficient by installing solar panels and batteries, insulating the hall and installing secondary glazing.
"Very exciting"
Cllr Sallie Davies, who presented the bids to other cabinet members, said the improvements were ‘very exciting’ and encouraged other communities to consider other energy-saving CIL bids.
She added: “It’ll make the hall more energy efficient and continue to provide an attractive community hub.”
Hartest has also benefitted from a further bid grant, with £25,495 to be invested in upgrading Hartest Restricted Byway 13, on The Green, with nearly 300 metres of new surfacing.
The second highest bid, at £57,513, was for improvements to Belle Vue Park, in Sudbury, and was made by the district council itself.
The improvements include two disabled parking bays and new level paving for ease of access to the park and its facilities, as well as piling of the foundations for the toilet modular units.
Sudbury will also see around 100 metre of new surfacing in Public Footpath 029, adjacent to Pinecroft Rise, costing £20,275.
The sixth bid approved by cabinet members was a £45,000 extension to the Copdock and Old Ipswichian Cricket Club pavilion, to provide a covered seated area.