Local councillor Neil McEvoy has proposed spending all of a £250,000 grant on The Zone
USING a quarter-million pound grant to equip a Pentrebane community centre with a music suite and a gym would help keep local youths off the street, says the centre’s co-manager.
The Zone has been managed by Ronnie and Sue Burford, ever since the council proposed knocking it down in 2015.
Since then around £280,000 has been raised to repair the building, with renovations including new guttering, toilets and a new roof.
However, thanks to a grant from housing developers in the area, the Pentrebane community now has £250,000 to invest and has to decide what to do with the money.
At a town council meeting this week, local councillor Neil McEvoy proposed investing the whole grant in The Zone.
Mr Burford, who lives on Beechley Drive opposite the Zone, highlighted the need for musical facilities.
“Children around here have always wanted music rooms, lots of kids in the area love their music,” he said.
“Kids are so bored – there is nothing for them to do around here.
“A lot of people in the area are mostly interested in stringing the kids up, not helping them out.”
Having lived in Fairwater all his life, Mr Burford sees the Zone and the local pub, The Jug and Bottle, as the last surviving community buildings in the area.
At the town meeting Coun McEvoy said the proposal would help tackle anti-social behaviour in Pentrebane, and allow locals, councillors and the police force to work together to reduce anti-social behaviour.
“At the moment there is nothing much for young people to do around here,” said Coun McEvoy.
The funding comes from Section 106 payments, where as a result of recent new housing developments in the area, the developers must put money into plans to help the existing local community.
While the risk of putting all of the funding into a single project was discussed, most of the people at the meeting seemed to support the idea of renovating the Zone as it would benefit the entire local community.
Councillors Saleh Ahmed and Claudia Boes were invited to the meeting but did not attend.
