Strawberry Hill (The Future)

We are working on plans to better serve our community through the proposed £1.5m development of the Strawberry Hill Centre.

Approach

A Steering Group of key stakeholders are developing enterprise plans for a new centre in the former rural coalfield village of Lynemouth.

The 'Strawberry Hill Centre' will extend the day care services already provided by the Lynemouth Day Centre to the whole community.

A project manager and technical team, supported by Social Enterprise Northumberland was commissioned and completed a feasibility exercise. The proposed Centre will provide a range of new facilities including a fitness suite and training kitchen and replace the current facility which it shares with the Methodist Church.

The consultation and development progress is still underway.

Principals behind the Strawberry Hill Centre

Rehabilitation; for example for those who have suffered stokes or heart illness and who need help in regaining fitness and functioning; those who have suffered a bereavement and now need to learn to cook, shop or learn basic DIY.

Prevention; working with elderly people both within the Centre and in their homes, advising them of the benefits of exercise and healthy lifestyle, and potentially, providing imminent 'retirees' with information on the opportunities for a healthy retirement.

Diversification; care of the elderly will be only one (but an important 'anchor use'), other uses may include outside catering, and provision for young people, all of which will contribute to full day usage of the new Centre.

The next phase will be to take the design forward, gain planning approval and prepare detailed drawings to be submitted for contractors to tender. Funding for this stage has already been promised by Castle Morpeth Borough Council's £xtra Mile Fund and a further application has been made to the new Leader Programme, together with a number of trusts.

It is expected that the Centre will cost around £1.5M, and if sufficient funding is put in place, a construction start could be made in the next financial year. Architect Michael Drage has developed an impression of the Centre, shown here.

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Mark Burdon, Chair of the Centre says:

"We have thought about this long and hard but the lack of space and inadequate facilities of our current facility requires us to bite the bullet and go ahead with our plans. We are taking a risk and committing resources, but if we don’t we would not be fulfilling our objective of providing the finest quality of service for a growing sector of the population.

The Steering Group comprises the representatives of the Centre, ENRGI, the Leader Programme, Castle Morpeth Borough Council, the Care Trust, the Lynemouth Community Development Trust, the local GP and UK Coal.

Anyone else who feels they can contribute to the scheme and fundraising would be very welcome, and we would encourage them to get in touch with us."