Negotiations to build a new community centre at a Suffolk sports club are ongoing – despite claims they had “fallen at the first hurdle”.
Framlingham Town Council has confirmed that while a number of issues about the Badingham Road Sports Ground site “required clarification”, talks were continuing “in the hope of moving things forward”.
The sports ground is one of several sites which have been investigated in the latest of a long-running series of attempts to secure a suitable community centre site in the town.
Investigations were expanded earlier this year after the preferred option for a £1.2million centre on a site between Brook Lane and Vyces Road was met with opposition from neighbours.
Framlingham’s community centre working group was asked to revisit that site – alongside several other options.
Last month, group member Jonathan Sullivan told Framlingham Residents’ Association that the sports centre “may have fallen at the first hurdle” due to “compatibility” issues with the site.
However, the town council has since held a meeting at which it presented the latest proposals - including the sports centre.
A report written after the meeting said the sports club had offered the council the “chance of purchasing a piece of land for development and this is under consideration as a possible site for the community centre”.
The sports centre is also said to have offered a site for car parking, which has been identified as a high priority in the town.
“The proposal is at a very early stage and as yet no plans have been commissioned,” a council spokesman said. “There are a number of issues that require clarification and the town council are in talks with the sports club and other bodies in the hope of moving things forward.”
St Michael’s Rooms had been a possible site for the new community centre, however this is now being examined as a separate project. The building was found to be in a “very poor state of repair”, but it is hoped a replacement of similar size can be built as part of the project.
This would be considerably smaller than the community centre proposals for either Brook Lane of the sports club.
The proposals will be discussed again at Framlingham Town Council’s next meeting on June 7.
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