Home   News   Article

Subscribe Now

Church's plan for £5m community hub approved




New building will include meeting rooms and lounge space

Newbury Baptist Church’s ambitious plans to build a £5m state-of-the-art community hub in the town have been approved.

Planning permission was granted just ahead of the Easter weekend and, with the building closed due to coronavirus restrictions, the news was shared with church members via email and video conferencing.

The church development team is now pressing ahead with detailed design preparations.

The new facility will include a lounge area with coffee shop where people could go to work or relax, as well as a multi-purpose area, which could be used by community groups, eight meeting rooms and office space.

The main part of the church, which was built in 1989, will be retained, but the rest of it will be demolished to make way for a two-storey extension.

There will also be a new access from Mayor’s Lane, in addition to the existing entrance from Cheap Street.

The 16 parking spaces outside the church will be lost, but some disabled parking will remain.

So far, just under £1.1m has been raised through donations and the sale of a property, and the church is hoping more organisations will come forward to help fund the rest.

The church had hoped to be able to start the project next summer and wants to have the building finished by the end of 2021 to tie in with the completion of the adjacent Market Street development.

However, the start date for building work will now depend on when lockdown restrictions are eased.

The Rev Richard Littledale said: “We are absolutely delighted to have these plans approved.

“The building will be for the whole of the community, not just the church community so it’s great for the whole town.

“It’s a welcome bit of good news in what has been a time of very bad news.

“I appreciate the whole thing will take longer than originally anticipated because of the current situation, but it is the next step forward in delivering this project.”

Although all normal activity at Newbury Baptist Church is suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic, the church community continues to meet and pray ‘virtually’.

To join in, or find out more, visit the Church's website.

To make a donation to help build a new community hub for the town, visit their fundraising page.



This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More