The Bullingdon Community Centre at Peat Moors in Headington will start to be broken down this week to make space for the much anticipated £1.5m new community centre.
Work gets underway
The existing Bullingdon Community Centre has been deteriorating from some years and plans to replace this were well advanced when the project was paused by the pandemic. Now, work is starting this week to remove asbestos and from early October the bulldozers will be on site.
The new centre will be built quickly using prefabricated construction, so that community activities can return to the centre as quickly as possible. In the meantime the City Council has provided alternative space for the tenant groups that have a permanent base at the centre.
A new community centre with new opportunities
The new centre will provide two community halls, kitchen, toilets, an inviting entrance space, meeting rooms and multi-use spaces that could be used for community meetings or as changing rooms.
The centre is owned by the City Council and run by the Bullingdon Community Association. Although many services have been disrupted over the past eighteen months due to COVID, the Community Association would normally help provide a wide range of community activities including parent and toddler groups, Orinoco recycling store, activities for older people, junior football teams, a monthly Swap Shop, educational activities and much more.
The old community centre was built in the 1950s by the community itself, and the City Council took on the costs of running it. The Council and the Community Association have worked in partnership to make sure the local community has been engaged and helped shape plans for replacing this much-loved centre.
Comment
“Community centres should be at the heart of thriving and resilient communities - as spaces where people can come together.
“I’m really excited by the opportunities a new, purpose-built centre offers the community. We’ve been investing in our community centres over recent years and I want to see that continuing as we build back from the pandemic.
“The Bullingdon community centre provides opportunities for learning, creativity and play and giving people a safe, affordable place to socialise, collaborate and develop the potential in their local area.”
Councillor Shaista Aziz, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities
“We are delighted that the work has started.
"Thank you to the community groups, residents and local councillors who supported the campaign to redevelop the centre. Lye Valley and Wood Farm have relatively few community meeting places and the new community centre will provide improved facilities and will be a springboard for the development of more services and activities.”
Richard Bryant, Bullingdon Community Association
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