October 2021
Dear Hardwick Resident,
It seems quite a while since we have been able to update you with the progress of the proposed Community Centre building. The Hardwick Community Centre Working Group (HCCWG) has been making progress with our architect and has received informal preplanning application feedback on the project from planning officers. This has enabled us to look in more detail at certain aspects of the plans so that we can submit a formal planning application to South Cambs District Council which is more likely to get approval first time.
We are now at the stage of collecting data required by the feedback to add to our planning application. This data includes:
An ecology report regarding wildlife in the area.
A tree report, to include any tree protection issues.
A context, design and external spaces update, to ensure local landscaping and character of the area is maintained.
A highway safety and car and cycle parking report, to ensure we have considered sufficient parking for all types of activities at the centre.
All of these areas, and a few similar ones, will now be professionally assessed for the working group and added to our application. Some had already been assessed but not in sufficient detail. Notwithstanding those areas needing more detail the project plans and general location on the recreation ground were generally well received by the planning officer.
The areas above are quite common requests at this stage of an application and should be concluded within the next six weeks, so we hope to go to a formal planning application by the end of November 2021.
The good news is there were no queries regarding the building itself. In the conclusion to the feedback report it stated, "overall the proposed building is well designed and would appear in keeping with the character of the area and it would have limited impact on neighbour residential amenity."
We now have a busy six weeks to get these professional reports completed and seek further comments from local residents before submitting our planning application.
Residents will have the right to comment to the District Council on the planning application once submitted but HCCWG hopes that its continuing dialogue with nearby residents and the village as a whole will help to resolve as many issues as possible beforehand.
If you have any comments regarding our progress please email the HCCWG on alan.west10@btinternet.com.