Lincolnshire Sport make £1m bid for Lincoln community centre

Lincolnshire Sport has made a bid to invest between £900,000 and £1.1 million to develop and sustain the Sudbrooke Drive Community Centre in Lincoln.

City of Lincoln Council will consider the project at an Executive meeting on July 7.

The bid by the Lincolnshire Sport charity, which promotes sport, health and physical activity, would rely on grant funding and make early significant improvements to the centre.

They would also sustain the centre by relocating their offices to the site and thereby putting funds into the site that are currently paying for rented office accommodation.

The council’s Executive committee will evaluate the possibility of a Community Asset Transfer (CAT) proposal for the centre, buildings and car park for lease and management.

The proposal is an agreement for a minimum term of 25 years.

Despite City Council efforts to develop use of the centre, current use is relatively low and significant investment is needed to improve the facility.

The charity will welcome all current community activities and users of the centre. Current fees would be maintained, subject to inflationary increases, for a period of five years.

The proposed plans for the centre include:

• Retention and improvement of the Main Hall
• Demolition of the large meeting room and then replacement with office space for Lincolnshire Sport and a small meeting room
• Demolition of the changing facilities replaced with a new community room
• Remodelling of the small meetings room and ancillary spaces to provide new changing facilities
• Improving the carbon-efficiency of the building significantly

Lincolnshire Sport have requested a one-off £30,000 revenue grant to assist with the first year of operations whilst capital works are undertaken which prevent their occupation of the premises.

Antony Angus, Recreation Services Team Leader at the City Council, said: “As a council we’re unfortunately not in a position to attract the kind of funding we need to improve and maintain Sudbrooke Drive Community Centre.

“Lincolnshire Sport is a registered charity with clear aims to promote sport, health and physical activity. They have exciting and ambitious plans for the centre that will see huge improvements for its users and the local community.

“The council would provide a £30,000 grant in the first year to help with the first year of operations. After that, this asset transfer would save the council £30,000 each year while seeing a valuable asset not only saved but improved and made more sustainable.”

Janet Inman, CEO of Lincolnshire Sport, said: “We are very excited about this project. It will allow us to move into the heart of a community in Lincoln and provide us with a facility that will allow us to deliver our charitable aims and objectives.

“The community centre will become a vibrant and modern part of this area, providing opportunities to engage in both sporting and non-sporting activities.”