It’s been a while since the website was last updated (apart from adding the notes of the monthly meetings) so now seems like a good time to give you the latest news.
I am pleased to say that things are progressing nicely: –
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We have 5 registered directors of the ‘Three Fields Community Trust’; Rob Ollerton (Magor Churchmen), Cllr. Sally Raggett (Magor Amateur Dramatics – not representing Magor with Undy Community Council), Kevin Wright (Resident), John O’Shaughnessy (Resident) and myself (Paul Turner – Magor Action Group on Rail).
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We have been meeting on a monthly basis with officers of Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) and other members of the community who are keen to see the project complete successfully
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We have agreed governance arrangements with MCC; Debra Hill-Howells (Head of Community Delivery) taking responsibility for delivery of the project, Ben Thorpe (Estates Project Officer) taking on the role of Project Manager) with Mike Moran (Community Infrastructure Co-ordinator) co-ordinating. The rest of us are working in partnership with MCC and helping in any way we can.
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One of the early decisions was to rename the project as “The Magor and Undy Community Hub” – to reflect that it is more than a village hall – it will be that but ‘much’ more! The building will have a number of rooms and facilities as well as a large, multi-purpose hall. The grounds of the Three Fields Site will be developed for various uses to complement the activities that go on in the building – not forgetting that it is planned to open a new railway station adjacent to the site. It is intended that the station and ‘The Hub’ will complement each other as a focus, “a hub”, of community activity.
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In March this year, MCC cabinet approved £73k towards making a start on getting some design options together for the building and site layout. This will enable us to procure an architect needed for this. At the same cabinet meeting, similar sums were granted to Magor with Undy Community Council and Undy Athletic Football Club to renovate the tennis court area (next to the 3 Fields site) and towards a spectator stand next to Undy’s pitch, on condition that all three parties collaborate to ensure that the facilities complement each other. The new stand is a condition of UAFC remaining in Welsh League Division 1.
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In May, MCC earmarked £800k towards the project as a condition of granting outline planning approval for the Rockfield Farm development. Similarly, it granted £200k towards the proposed new station ‘Magor and Undy Walkway‘. This was great news and enabled us to re-plan, with a greater degree of confidence, a timeframe to complete the project. The revised plan can be viewed here.
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At our July meeting we invited residents, who live close to the site, to come along and air their views. It is fair to say that some of them have real concerns, mainly because of the uncertainty at this point of the scale of the building, how it will be run and the immediate impact of a station. We made it clear this was the real start of the project and it was hoped that they would become involved in helping to shape the exciting new development. Notes of the July meeting can be viewed here.
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It is now intended to update this website on a monthly basis to keep the community informed of progress.
Paul
