PROPOSALS for a new youth centre in Kingsclere were back on the drawing board this week, after an £800,000 bid for lottery funds was turned down.
Kingsclere Parish Council's My Place lottery bid for just under £800,000 has been turned down, clerk to the council Sheila Thompson, confirmed this week.
"The problem was, we did not meet the criteria - the application had to be in excess of £1m and we could not make the application up to that amount," said Mrs Thompson.
"It's now back to the drawing board - but the trouble is that in this economic climate it's not easy."
At a recent parish council meeting, villagers quizzed chairman Peter Woodman and vice chairman Peter Goff, who is spearheading the project about how much was available in the council’s bank account for the project, and how much had been promised in grants.
First mooted several years ago, from which costs have risen from an initial estimate of £615,000 to about £700,000, proposals for the centre, on the Holding Field, include space for a youth club (the former club was destroyed by fire in 2005) together with facilities for Busy Bees children’s nursery, presently housed in a wooden scout hut.
One villager, determined to unearth the true financial picture was Rachael Theaker, who, speaking on behalf of a group of villagers wanted to know exactly how much money was available in the bank.
Mr Woodman said his guess would be about £200,000, with the rest “in a number of buckets”, including the Football Foundation for £50,000 and the South East Development Agency for £100,000.
Decisions were awaited on grant applications for £25,000 from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, £12,500 from Hampshire County Council and £25,000 from Greenham Common Trust, Mr Goff added.
Mrs Theaker also queried how much of the £6,000 raised at last year’s village fete, the proceeds of which were intended for the new centre, had gone into the pot of funds for the centre and how much had been spent so far on architects’ fees for the project.
“Who appointed the architects, how much are their fees and how are you going to pay for them?” asked Mrs Theaker.
Mr Goff replied that £1,750 had already been paid in architects’ fees, plus £1,500 for a quantity surveyor. The total estimated bill for architects’ fees was £20,000. Mr Woodman said that the council’s working party for the project would have to be consulted, before an answer could be provided about the appointment of the architect.
Mrs Theaker’s questions were curtailed by Mr Woodman, who said that enough time had been allocated to the issue during recess, a period during the meeting aimed specifically at giving members of the public the opportunity to raise village issues.