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The Welney Website

Welney's new Community Centre - nearer there!

page created 21st Nov 2015; last updated Tuesday, 03 September 2019

new welney sign


Site contents & index page contents Introduction Press release Nov 2015 Links to related pages	Introduction At last I'm able to post some good news about this 10 year project - the Parish Council are now in a position to place an order for a new building! The Council's efforts have been somewhat tortuous, and it was only the hard work of a team of parishioners between July 2014 and August 2015 that has brought the project to this stage. The saga is described on other pages (see links at bottom). It is hoped that the Council's Committee formed in September to oversee the final stages will now recommend that Council place a purchase order in December (this year!) with the preferred contractor, MRC Modular whose Director/owner Martin Reynolds, and Sales Manager Chris Neill, have given tremendous support and assistance over the last 2½ years. In the meantime the following press release has been issued to a number of local newspapers:
	Press Release, Nov 2015 "New Community and Sports Pavilion for Welney The village of Welney in Norfolk has reached an important milestone in its long planned project to replace the dilapidated village hall and playing field Pavilion The Parish Council have been successful in raising the £222,000 needed for the new building. This includes three major grants; £127,000 from the Marshal's Charity, Welney £38,000 from WREN’s FCC Communities Fund. £43,000 from the Sport England Inspired Facilities Fund The Parish Council would like to thank the awarding bodies for their generous support, which will make a huge difference to our community. We would also like to thank the Customers of Waitrose in Ely who generously supported our project with over £200 from their charities of month. Local events such as the very popular Welney Water Gala and the sports and fun day, raised a further £2700. Together with Parish Council funding of more than £8,500, we now are able to commission the new building. The new building – draft plans below, is to be built by a local company, using modular construction methods. A particular feature is sustainability with highly evident green energy system of solar panels and air source heat pumps supplying all the majority of the energy needs and contributing to the low cost of use for residents. Weather and ground conditions permitting we anticipate that construction will be in March 2016 with an opening at Easter." Webmaster's note: Drawing is a draft; entrance ramp has since been redesigned to lead directly to car park. Webmasters note: WREN is a not-for-profit business that awards grants to community, environmental and heritage projects across the UK from funds donated by FCC Environment as part of a voluntary environmental tax credit scheme called the Landfill Communities Fund. Since 1998, WREN has granted over £200m to more than 7,000 projects which benefit people living within 10 miles of a FCC Environment landfill site. For more information please visit www.wren.org.uk or contact WREN on 01953 717165.

Acknowledgements: Sources as noted. Text, design and layout: Peter Cox © 2014 Welney Website	Update: August 2019. It's 3½ years since the "good" news above. Unfortunately the Parish Council under Chairman Cllr K.Goodger then took back control of the project and rather messed the whole thing up just as they had between 2005 and May 2014. Among the specifications agreed between the Action Team and MRC that the Council changed were heating and foundations. There have been continual attempts by some parishioners to find out why the changes were made. The story of our new Community Centre is continued on a new page under the building's official name "The William Marshall Centre"	related Welney pages History, details, layout Opposition by some Cllrs Current Pavilion Parish Hall Playing Field Play equipment

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