NEW
SPORTS CENTRE FOR DUSTON
The Business Plan can be viewed Here
Duston
Parish Council, together with partners from local sports clubs, has been
working towards securing a new Sports and Leisure facility for people in Duston
and the surrounding area.
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The
Sports and Leisure Complex is based on land and buildings that formed part of
the British Timken Sports and Social Club, and will have its main access off
Cotswold Avenue. It
includes two Soccer pitches, an outdoor Archery range, the Bowling Green,
Sports Hall and further areas of land for vehicle parking and landscaping. The
transfer of the land and buildings to Duston Parish Council is subject to a
S106 Planning Agreement made between the developers of the former Timken site
(Bellway Homes and David Wilson Homes) with the West Northamptonshire
Development Corporation. |
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The
Agreement also provides for an initial sum of money, paid in stages by the
developers, which is to be used towards renovating the former Sports Hall and
Social Club up to modern standards and bringing it back into use.
The
first stage of funding, which covers outline design, planning permission and
detail design up to award of construction contract, has been received and the
Parish Council are working with potential user groups and sports clubs to
ensure that the design is suited to the needs of Duston.
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Unfortunately
the project suffered a major setback towards the end of 2006 when the disused
Sports Hall was subject to a major fire. As
a result of this, the Social Club area, which was mainly of timber composite
construction, had to be demolished on safety grounds. However,
the structural steel frame of the main sports hall remains serviceable,
although there has been extensive damage to the lightweight cladding, floor
and blockwork, plus smoke damage throughout the building. |
The
original concept was costed in detail and, as a result of the fire, the funds
earmarked in the Agreement are now insufficient to deliver that scheme, so
additional funds must now be sought.
However,
as we are no longer tied to the original layout, there now exists an
opportunity to deliver an architecturally more exciting scheme somewhat
different to that originally envisaged.
At
the end of 2007 the project was subjected to a competitive “Design and Fee”
bidding process, and as a result of their successful bid, Duston Parish Council
appointed well-known local designers Gotch, Saunders and Surridge (GSS
Architecture) as the scheme Architects.
Their Design Brief resulted in an exciting design that was placed on public exhibition in March 2008, but which, regrettably had to be shelved due to the economic situation and the wish of the Duston Parish Council not to burden the parish with a considerable long-term debt.
In the event GSS were asked to develop a less ambitious plan within the funds available. Outline drawings of the new design and the internal arrangements are shown below. These have been sumitted to WNDC and planning permission has been confirmed,
Already there are two soccer clubs, a variety of clubs devoted to martial arts and other mat sports, archery, bowls and guides/brownies, with the result that whilst many of the evening and weekend prime time slots are already provisionally allocated, supervised public access will still be available.
User Clubs have made a commitment to provide coaching for newcomers wishing to learn.
However,there is plenty of opportunity for the reduced rate daytime morning and afternoon slots to be taken up by individuals or groups whose membership find their daytime to be free, and participation by any such groups, or schools, will be most welcome.
This will ensure that the community of Duston, and the users of the Sports and Leisure Complex, will all have fair access to a publicly owned facility on a properly managed basis.
The Business Plan can be viewed Here
View the Function of the Council click here
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