Pavilion revamp aims high

A £11/2m youth centre with a climbing wall and recording studio could be built in Newark.

Plans are being drawn up for a centre on the site of the Lincoln Road pavilion for young people in the Bridge area of the town.

A bid is being prepared for The Big Lottery Fund’s My Place scheme, which distributes Government money to projects that aim to provide world-class youth facilities. The minimum grant is £1m.

Bridging The Gap, a partnership of representatives of voluntary and community groups, is behind the project.

The partnership is working with ADP Projects, of Leicester, to develop a design concept. The firm has already worked with the Unique Coffee Bar, Newark.

A director of ADP Projects, Mr Tim Beales, said a climbing wall, the full height of the building, was planned as the centrepiece.

He said he had spoken to acoustics consultants about the possibility of a recording studio and music room.

Mr Beales said there were organisations that offered outreach services to young people through music.

Five-a-side football all-weather pitches are being looked at.

There was also the possibility that organisations such as the Unique Coffee Bar and Job Centre Plus could be involved.

Mr Beales said some services provided could attract people from outside the area.

“It may challenge their opinion of the estate,” he said.

Another firm, Green Ideas, is compiling landscape designs for the outside.

The existing football pitches would remain, and changing rooms would be provided as part of the project.

The chairman of Bridging The Gap, Mrs Gill Dawn, said: “There is only one good solution to get the facility that we need and that is to bring the bulldozers in.

“What we want is not going to be achievable with the building we have got.”

Bridging The Gap receives free advice from the Development Trusts Association after the Government chose the project as one of only 60 nationally to receive support.

A community development adviser at Newark and Sherwood District Council, Mr Peter Sherlock, is involved.

“We could put a smaller scheme together which would be helpful and good, or we could try to go for broke with a facility for young people that would meet all their needs,” he said.

Mr Sherlock said if they were unsuccessful with the bid they would continue the project on a smaller scale. The group is due to submit its bid in August.

Bridging The Gap bought the pavilion from the district council for £1.