Successful community centre gets more council support with more land handed over
A piece of council land is being handed over to an organisation which has been successfully operating a community centre in the Kimberworth district of Rotherham, to create a car park alongside.
Chislett Community Centre in Kimberworth Park Road has been operated by the Kimberworth Park Community Partnership since 2014, when the building was transferred to them on a lease arrangement from the council.
That allowed the body to apply for grants valued at £486,000 to extend and develop the centre, which is now on a 99 year lease from the authority.
Rotherham Council’s ruling Cabinet has agreed to hand over land alongside the centre, which is a former garage site, on a similar basis after hearing the group intended to carry out improvements to the site.
Using it as a car park will mean reduced parking on Kimberworth Park Road, something regarded as potential problem for neighbours.
Councillors who agreed to the transfer were told the site has limited development potential and also has a further use as a secondary access to Redscope primary school, which cannot be removed.
It is expected the transfer will be completed early next month with the partnership covering the council’s legal costs, expected to be around £250.
The agreement for the change of responsibility is called an asset transfer lease and is designed to allow council owned land or buildings to be put to constructive use for community benefit.