Case Studies
Powys County Council Community Regeneration has helped to get pilot Community Hub projects rolling in three community centres already – one in each of the Shire areas.
How the Council has helped
In each case:
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Powys County Council staff have provided initial advice on planning for a Community Hub.
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Grants have been provided to employ professional planning and community development support.
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The Council has made seed funding available to launch fundraising for major building refurbishment work.
The pilot projects
These three very different projects illustrate the huge range of possibilities for Community Hubs elsewhere. Click on the links below to find out more about the way these projects have made use of this support.
Knighton Community Centre is the largest of 46 Council-owned village halls and community centres in Powys. For the hard-pressed centre Committee - which has been battling with the changing needs of residents and users, the building’s rising bills, its leaking roof, and its outdated appearance and facilities - the Centre is just too big. The task of running it as a conventional venue for entertainments and community and privatel events has become unsustainable.s.
In recent years the remote village of Tirabad in the heart of the Epynt Forest and on the edge of the desolate Sennybridge Army Training Range has seemed to be a community without a future. The 50 or so residents have no shop, no post office and no school. The historic local church is closed for normal services and in need of restoration. There are few children and several houses are no longer permanently occupied. To cap it all, Tirabad Village Hall - a wooden building which originally housed the primary school and has been the centre of social life since the 1970s - is contaminated with asbestos and in desperate need of major repairs.
When the local primary school closed in Llangurig, the village lost its most important focal point and the only building capable of holding community meetings and events. Despite Llangurig’s central location at the junction of the A470 trunk road and the route to Aberystwyth, the long-term sustainability of this ancient community was now at risk.
Harnessing Community Strengths
"A Community Hub is a multi-use, community-run and led building, which is proactive in enabling a range of services to improve the quality of life for the whole community."
There’s virtually no limit to the activities you can provide in your Community Hub. It very much depends on the services which local people need and want to use, and how much you are prepared to work together to get them set up and supported.
This site is designed to help you plan and set up a Community Hub which meets the needs of your community.