Published: Monday, 26th September 2022
Sevenoaks District Council has allocated £1,320,500 of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding to support exciting community projects and infrastructure improvements across the District.
Projects in Edenbridge, Westerham, Swanley, Weald, Eynsford and Sevenoaks, that submitted bids for consideration, have all received the funding they requested which will deliver health, social and net zero benefits to their communities.
Sevenoaks District Council collects CIL from liable developments across the District. Organisations and service providers are then invited to submit CIL funding bids to help fund infrastructure projects that will benefit residents and support new developments across the District.
The new Edenbridge Integrated Health and Wellbeing Centre will receive £600,000. Currently under construction and due to open in October 2023, the new state-of-the art centre will provide many medical and community health services under one roof. These will include a GP surgery, dispensary, outpatients, X-ray, audiology, minor injuries, midwifery, a daycare centre, physio and patient transport. The latest funding is in addition to £600,000 in CIL funding agreed by the Council in 2018 and will deliver much needed and vastly improved health services to the town.
Westerham Town Council is set to receive £15,000 towards the refurbishment of the Playground on King George’s Field. The money will part fund replacement play equipment, additional accessible equipment and resurfacing the play area.
Swanley Town Council will receive £60,000 to pay towards a new rugby pitch with a training area, changing rooms and toilets at the Olympic site.
Weald Parish Council is set to benefit from £91,000 in CIL funding towards improvements to their much used and valued recreation ground. The project includes a new parking area that will improve road safety, tarmacing the access track to the ground and replacing their outdated and inefficient diesel generator with a mains electricity supply.
Eynsford Parish Council will receive £260,000 in funding to help pay for a new village hall and improvements to the village football pitch. The Parish Council is proposing to build the new village hall with car parking in Harrow Meadow, replacing the current hall. The existing hall dates back to 1905 and has structural problems that would require major repair works. The proposal also includes an improved football pitch, replacing the existing pitch, which has a notorious slope.
Bradbourne Lakes in Sevenoaks, a popular, green leisure space to the south of the town, will receive £251,900 towards landscaping, footpath and environmental improvements. The project also received £252,400 in CIL funding in December 2019.
The Stag Community Arts Centre in Sevenoaks is to receive £42,600 towards solar panels to help it move towards net zero. The solar panels would generate enough power to help run the popular centre with any excess electricity sold back to the National Grid. Up to 23,821 kilos of CO2 emissions could be saved by the scheme every year.
Cllr Julia Thornton, Sevenoaks District Council’s Cabinet Member for Development and Conservation, says: “We are delighted to be able to support so many deserving community infrastructure projects across the District with this latest round of CIL funding.
“The money will help pay towards projects that improve our health, wellbeing and the environment, helping the District move towards net zero.
Cllr Thornton adds: “We know that new developments can add additional pressures to existing infrastructure, but CIL funding is an important tool to help our service providers meet any additional needs.”
Since Sevenoaks District Council introduced CIL in 2014, it has secured nearly £13 million in developer contributions towards infrastructure improvements across the District.
To find out more information on CIL, visit www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/cil.
The CIL funding was agreed at the Council’s Cabinet meeting on 20 September 2022.
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