Exeter Community Centre
Providing community facilities for over 40 years
Get the facts here - read the most frequently asked questions about the centre...
January 2010
The Communitybuilders investment panel have approved our application for funding. This comes after eight weeks of intensive appraisal by their investment team and a final presentation by ourselves to the panel in London.
It has been 7 years since this community association notified Devon County Council (the owners) of its interest to take over the running of the building, rather than it being closed and sold off. It took 3 years before they agreed to participate in a feasibility study, and a further three years before they agreed to transfer the building and some contribution to the collosal maintenance backlog. Over this time we developed a community vision, a robust business plan and submitted four detailed funding bids before finally acquiring the funding from Communitybuilders.
The new Exeter Community Centre Trust will hold and manage the building.
The charitable trust is made up in majority by local St David's residents plus user representatives and local authority councillors. The St Davids Neighbourhood Partnership will continue as a campaigning association working to advance local community priorities in partnership with the trust.
This represents a really significant investment in St David's from both Devon County Council and central government. St David's is an area high in deprivation, has a substantially rising population, no doctor's surgery and no community facilities.
December 2009
Earlier this year we prepared and submitted our application to the Communitybuilders funding programme. The start of the programme was delayed until late November but since then we have been working on an almost daily basis with the Communitybuilders investment team. This has meant further building surveys, reports and financial planning in order to establish a robust and practical approach to the renewal of the centre. Communitybuilders officers are currently working with us to prepare their report, which will be formally considered for investment in mid January 2010.
March 2009
The County Council have agreed to offer the building on terms that will allow the Neighbourhood Partnership to get on with the task of submitting bids for the substantial funding required to refurbish the building. These terms offer a significantly improved opportunity to restore, renew and revitalise the centre, at the heart of our local community.
Last updated January 27th 2010
