ACTIVE villagers in Wellesbourne have been making the most of their new sports centre.
The Wellesbourne Sports and Community Centre already has 200 members signed up to its gym and residents will soon see two multi-use games areas and two tennis courts built on the site.
The £800,000 needed to build the centre was raised through section 106 funding – money requested by local authorities from developers when planning permission is approved – the Persimmon Community Fund, Tesco Bags of Help and One Stop Carriers for Causes, donations from residents through a ‘buy a brick’ scheme and support from Wellesbourne Parish Council.
Leamington-based Blythe Liggins Solicitors’ commercial team advised the parish council on establishing a charitable trust to run the centre and helped the negotiation processes for the contracts.
Anne Prior, a director at the centre, said: “We’ve had amazing backing from the community and have been very fortunate with the support the project has received from the parish council – without them this would not have been possible.
“We have already had tremendous feedback from residents and our future plans for the centre will help us support even more local sports clubs and community projects.”
The charity also hopes to secure funding to develop the upper floor of the centre to increase the facilities available to community groups.
