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A long-awaited new community centre and affordable housing scheme in Strouden Park, Bournemouth, is officially open.
To mark the occasion a celebration took place at the community centre with the Mayor of Bournemouth Cllr Philip Stanley-Watts officially cutting a ribbon and unveiling a plaque to declare the facility and new housing complete.
The scheme includes 17 new affordable homes and a modern community centre built across two sites - Bradpole Road and Craigmoor Avenue - with nine brand new family houses and eight bungalows.
Councillor Robert Lawton, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: "This scheme will increase our housing stock to provide much needed affordable family housing in Bournemouth – a key priority for this council. The new bungalows are a valuable addition to the council's housing stock, allowing some of our more elderly residents to move in to more suitable and affordable accommodation and in turn freeing up under-occupied family housing elsewhere in the borough."
Councillor Jane Kelly, Cabinet Member for Partnerships and Regeneration, said: "The new community centre will contribute to our aspiration to give young people opportunities for realising their potential and give them a positive focus for activities that may not have been available in that area previously. I wish the Community Association huge success in running the new centre and am delighted that there is a committed group of volunteers to take on this essential task which will be of enormous value in bringing the community together."
The scheme was partly funded by contributions from other developments in Bournemouth and an £80,000 contribution from the users of the old community centre. It will also be supported by the council's housing capital and through prudential borrowing and £275,000 from the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA’s) Affordable Homes Programme, which is set to deliver 170,000 new homes across England by 2015. The total cost of the scheme is £2.2m, £430,000 for the community centre and £1.77m for the housing.
(CD/GK)
