Plans submitted for £3.6m community centre

If approved, work could start in 2026

A new £3.8m community centre in Telford could be built after plans were submitted to the council.

Land near Lawley Village Primary Academy, Bryce Way, in Lawley has been earmarked as the site for a two-story parish community facility, as well as car parking.

The current community centre, in Arleston Lane, is in the former assembly hall of a Victorian school building. A meeting in October heard more space was needed for activities for the population, which had tripled from 5,000 to almost 15,000 in 20 years.

The new centre would be financed by selling the parish council office and increasing the parish council share of the council tax by about £0.44 per week.

The application, submitted by Lawley and Overdale Parish Council, is with Telford and Wrekin Council and is not yet open for public consultation.

Parish councillors were previously told that if planning application was granted, work could start in 2026, with the new centre, open in 2027.

Bryce Way, in Telford, where the new community centre could be built

The parish council plans to increase its share of the council tax by about £0.44 per week on a Band D property, in order to pay back Telford and Wrekin Council for a proposed 40 year loan, at an annual fixed rate of £263,113 per year.

It would also sell its office in Lawley Square to contribute to the budget. The building was valued at £150,000 in 2021.

A resident consultation on the plans recieved 199 responses from inside the parish, with about 60% in support.

Councillors said it "would be a facility for the whole of the parish area and all residents, and it does not involve the stewardship provider for Lawley."

They said reports and surveys that were part of the planning application process, should address resident concerns about things like parking, traffic and noise.

It was added that neighbourhood enforcement officers would be able to patrol the site, and the new centre's opening and closing times would be the same as the current one.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.