Saintfield development group hopes to secure centre space

Saintfield development group hopes to secure centre space

25 May 2022

AN unused building at Saintfield Community Centre is in line for a new lease of life.

The town’s Development Association has been keen to rent the building from Newry, Mourne and Down Council and a letter of offer has now been issued for the 700 square metre building.

The letter has been issued to the Association and the Saintfield Community Trust, with the latter organisation responsible for the centre’s day-to-day management.

The latest edition of Saintfield News reveals that the next step in the process to rent the building will be to obtain the necessary statutory approvals which will trigger the lease.

Development Association officials have revealed that the plan is to develop a large multi-user area to complement the existing community centre facilities, including a heritage centre to link with the proposed Windmill Community Park and a coffee shop. 

Officials have suggested that it could take up to 18 months to achieve these objectives, confirming that they hope to soon provide an update progress with its application to the Heritage Fund for developing the windmill field as a community park.

Association chairman, Mr Martyn Todd, says the easing of lockdown restrictions provides the organisation with the opportunity to resume meetings in person, revealing that while Covid restrictions may be almost totally eased, he know of more people who have had the virus in recent weeks than in the previous two years.

“The easing of restrictions gives us the opportunity to resume meetings in person, although the rapid spread of new Covid variants means we still need to be careful to protect the vulnerable among the community,” said Mr Todd.

“As we move into better weather, we can have more outdoor gatherings which enables social mixing in a safer environment.

With the new community centre having opened some three years ago, Saintfield Development Association set up the Saintfield Community Trust to run the facility.

The objective was to have a different set of people running the centre while the Association carried on with other projects for the benefit of the community.

Mr Todd said that in practice, this has not happened and the majority of people on the Community Trust management committee are also on the Association’s coordinating committee. 

“At the end of last year, both organisations’ committees met to discuss coming together again, with the objectives of reducing duplication and combining assets to carry out larger projects,” he explained.

“At the annual meetings of both organisations, it was unanimously agreed to explore ways of them both uniting, with Development Trust NI kindly providing funding for a facilitator to work with both to explore the best way of them coming together.”

Mr Todd said the process will involve legal changes and is likely to take between four and six months to complete and that in the meantime, both organisations will carry out their usual functions, but will have regular joint meetings so everyone is aware of all that each is doing.

There are also plans to have more meetings open to the wider membership of both groups and meetings with the public. Progress on the amalgamation will be discussed at these with residents reminded to look out for notices publicising the meetings.

It has also been confirmed that the Saintfield Community Centre board has appointed Simon and Rachel James to manage the facility. The couple take over the role from Anna Walker.