Express & Star

Dudley's North Priory Community Centre given £122k funding boost

An extra £122,000 has been put towards a community centre being built in Dudley.

Published
The site of the centre

The North Priory Community Centre, in Priory Road, is almost complete, but the extra money has now been put forward as part of the council’s capital programme construction.

The Capital Programme includes a budget currently of £825,000 for the provision of the community facility as part of the overall development works at the North Priory.

There have been some delays to construction, mainly arising from adverse ground conditions and poor weather, which have resulted in increased costs.

A need has also been identified for an additional footpath to improve access for people with disabilities and for the emergency services.

Therefore an additional £122,000 is required to complete the scheme.

The council document states: “Around £60,000 represents the lowest-cost option to provide the access path, £27,000 represents additional costs resulting from adverse conditions and £35,000 relates to the time extension to the contract.”

Alan Lunt, strategic director for place at Dudley Council, said: “The council committed to providing a community centre when the North Priory Estate was redeveloped a number of years ago and we have allocated funding to complete the project.

“We will be working closely with North Priory Community Association as they look to deliver community initiatives to support people of all ages within the local community.”

The current completion date for the centre is June 19, 2017, with a further two to three weeks required to complete the access path.