All three Great Western Park community centres now open
South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils have opened all their community centres on Great Western Park.
The Northern, District and Southern centres, two of which are brand new buildings, are now available for residents and groups to hire with priority bookings given to groups helping to support Covid-19 responses.
Last year, the district councils took over the District and Southern centres from Taylor Wimpey and, during lockdown, have modified them to ensure they comply with health and safety regulations, and work has been carried out on all three centres to introduce all the necessary Covid-19 safety measures.
With the government guidance permitting community centres open from 12 April, the councils have been able to reopen the Northern centre and open the doors, for the first time, to the Southern and District centres for hire.
The District Community Centre is a large facility and is built opposite the main shopping area on Great Western Park. It has a large hall and many function rooms for people to hire for their activities.
The Southern Neighbourhood Community Centre, on the newest part of the development, has a main hall and smaller meeting rooms with an outside multi-use games area. Most recently the Great Western Park Covid-19 support group, who provide food for the local community, has been using one of the rooms to help support local residents in need.
The Northern Neighbourhood Community Centre was originally opened in 2015 and is the smallest of the three centres. Prior to the pandemic the hall and adjoining kitchen area was a very popular venue and regularly used by local community groups.
Suzanne Malcolm, Acting Deputy Chief Executive of Place, at South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils said: “We are excited to be able to open our Great Western Park community centres for hire. At the moment, we are prioritising bookings for Covid-19 support, but in the future, we hope to open all three buildings to all users so they can become brilliant community assets for all our residents.”
People can find out more about the hiring the centres below:
southoxon.gov.uk/northern-centre
