It has been many months since Saintfield Development Association has communicated progress on the project to provide a community centre for Saintfield and the surrounding area. Like most people, the SDA Committee working on the project, was very disappointed when the newly formed Newry, Mourne and Down District Council effectively stopped the project that had been progressed by Down District Council for Saintfield. For the last six months it has not been clear how the project was to be taken forward.
In recent weeks there has been more clarity as to the next steps and so the SDA Coordinating Committee feels it is time to let people know what has happened recently and what are the likely next steps. The senior officials in NMD Council have agreed that a community centre is needed for Saintfield, but there is not yet widespread agreement among all NMD councillors as to the scale that is required for Saintfield. Although there was a very good response to the last community engagement in February 2014 ( see http://discoversaintfield.com/saintfield-community-centre/executive-summary-of-the-public-consultation/ ), when 950 people responded and provided good information to prioritise facilities in the new community centre, NMD Council has requested a revised business case and updated community consultation.
Stephen McClelland, who is experienced in social enterprise and working with community groups, has been appointed by NMD Council to prepare the revised business case by the end of January 2016. The reason for the tight deadline is that NMD will be finalising its budget and setting rates for 2016/17 in February 2016 and, if the Saintfield community centre is to be included in this next financial year, the business case for it will have to receive Council approval in February. As part of preparing the revised business case, Stephen McClelland facilitated two consultation events on 7th December 2015, kindly hosted by Ms Vivien Watt in Saintfield High School.
Over seventy school, church, sports and community groups, in and around Saintfield, were invited to send one or two people to the consultation events. Fifty-five people attended, representing thirty-five different community groups, and gave their inputs to help prioritise what should go into the new facility. This was an excellent turnout and the information they provided will be invaluable for deciding what the new centre will contain and for the business case supporting these decisions. The consultation confirmed to the new Council that that the priorities that resulted from the earlier consultation still stand. It also demonstrated to the new councillors that there is strong interest and support for a community centre from a wide range of community groups in Saintfield.
SDA is also exploring possible partnership arrangements with the private sector as well as the Council, on how best to run and manage the facility on behalf of the local community.
Below are some photographs of the participants in the afternoon session of the public consultation on 7th December.
