£885,000 Tadley Youth Centre project runs out of cash

Town council rushes to the rescue with £40,000

Tadley Town Council dug deeper into its coffers on Monday evening to stump up an additional £40,000 for the town’s new youth centre, after snags pushed up the £885,000 costs.

Planning permission was granted in November for the two-storey building, to be called The Point, and construction is underway on part of the former Burnham Copse Infant School site, in Newchurch Road, behind Tadley and District Community Centre.

Treasurer of the project, Tony Flahive, told fellow town and borough councillors at the meeting that costs had escalated unexpectedly since contractors signed up last month.

“They [the contractors] found a Second World War building, having already had bore holes drilled, and the drainage survey failed to pick up problems, so extra work was needed,” said Mr Flahive.

He said that he hoped councillors would look sympathetically at the request for extra funds and added that he was happy for anyone to examine the detailed figures at a separate meeting, while pointing out spare cash was available in town council reserves.

“The auditor raised the fact that Tadley Town Council has too much in reserves, so you do have money that could be usefully used,” he said.

A discussion then followed on the urgency of the required extra funds, until the council’s vice chairwoman, Avril Burdett, urged: “This cannot wait for another full cycle of town council meetings – we can’t brief builders without knowing how much is in the pot, and as the [building] frame is due to come along soon, we can’t waste any time.”

After town council clerk, Nicki Barry, confirmed £62,000 was available in cemetery funds and a further £65,000 for play area refurbishments, town councillors voted unanimously to use £20,000 from each of these two budgets to provide further financial support to the youth centre project.

The youth centre building is being constructed off site by award-winning Thatcham company, Francis Construction.

The finished wooden building will then be craned on to the site when completed, incorporating a tree house design, following suggestions from Tadley's youth.

Funds for the building include: Public Works loan – £150,000, Turbury Allotment Charity – £300,000, Greenham Common Trust – £65,000, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council – £182,300, Tadley Town Council – £160,000, as well as individual donations.