£300k funding grant for community cafe

Park Life Heavitree has secured funding

The new community café and hub will provide a community space for groups, activities and local people to meet and develop relationships and interests.

Four jobs will be created by the project and building work is due to start later in 2019.

Power to Change, an organisation set up to grow and support community businesses in England has awarded Park Life Heavitree with a £300,000 grant to help fund the project that was unanimously granted planning permission last year.

Kate Wilder, chairman of Park Life Heavitree said: “Park Life Heavitree has always been about strengthening local relationships by coming together as a community to support each other and have fun. We are thrilled to have been awarded this funding from Power to Change. It is a significant step towards our goal of offering this amazing facility and community space in our park.

“The café and community hub will be a huge benefit and support many people within the community. Thank you to all our volunteers and supporters who have encouraged us and helped over the years and specifically more recently as we work towards delivering this exciting new facility.”

When the plans were submitted, there were 81 letters of support from the community, saying there is a need for a more permanent social hub within the community.

Backing the project at the planning meeting, Cllr Emma Morse said: “I can’t see any reason to object to this as it will benefit the community.” Cllr David Harvey praised the community-led initiative for putting together a plan that is what the community wants, while Cllr Phil Bilayk asked can we have one of these in Exwick?

The café and community hub will provide indoor and outdoor seating, high quality food and drink, improved toilet facilities and a hireable hall venue for functions, parties, classes and activities.

The building will also help the charity to further its aims of reducing social isolation and loneliness, improving health and wellbeing with opportunities to get active, improve community cohesion and help to create a more socially, environmentally and economically sustainable community.

The hall and community café will be built on the site of the current BMX track. A new BMX track would be built next to the existing skate park.