Thanks to the efforts of Local Liberal Democrats £130,000 has been ploughed into improvements at the Riverside Community Centre on the London Road.
The centre, which is based behind the Porter Butt next to the river Avon, was a couple of years ago under threat of being closed down after an unfortunately unsuccessful bid to turn it into a Healthy Living Centre.
However this did not stop Councillor David Dixon (Lib Dem, Walcot) and local residents’ enthusiasm for keeping this centre alive. The Riverside Community Association was set up under the Chairmanship of Cllr Dixon with the aimof keeping the valuable facility at Riverside.
Last year Local Councillor Colin Darracott agreed £130k worth of works to take place at the centre to bring it up to standard for the Disability Discrimination Act.
12 weeks of work started in January at the centre which will see significant improvements and a much better facility for users.
Cllr Darracott said of the scheme, "I am really pleased that I have been able to allocate these funds to the centre. Last year we saw Council investment into a state of the art music studio in one part of the centre and with this extra £130,000 I think the local community will be really pleased with these developments."
Andy Tanner, a local campaigner and landlord of the Porter Butt is also pleased to see improvements at the centre and is working with the Council to help improve the access road, which we hope to see resurfaced once the works at the Centre are completed and a regular cleaning schedule with Wessex Water, The Porter Butt and the Council working together to keep it litter free.
