Community hub grows as agencies added

More services and agencies are joining Redditch’s new town centre community hub.

A range of local services are set to be offered to residents from the hub, with multiple organisations taking residence alongside Redditch Borough Council in a transformed Redditch Town Hall.

It means that as well as being the borough council’s main customer service centre and head office, the hub will also be the place to go for local NHS mental health services, community-use rooms, and now subject to contract Citizens Advice and alcohol and other drug support from Cranstoun too - all under one roof.

The hub concept has picked up pace since a report on funding its development through capital receipts was approved by the borough council at its full council meeting in January.

The parts of the hub that will hold the NHS services are already under construction.

Cllr Matt Dormer, Leader of Redditch Borough Council, said: “Progress on the hub is good, with multiple services coming on board so far. With better access to services and lower running costs too, it’s all about getting best value for the whole community out of our public assets and services.

“We’re able to build on the fact that Redditch was designed with the Town Hall at its heart, giving us a large and highly interconnected public building that’s very accessible. By making more services available from there we can multiply the benefits it offers to everyone.”

Another service that could feature at the new hub is Redditch Library, if Worcestershire County Council approves the borough council’s request to move it there. A formal public consultation by the county council on that move closed on Friday (February 24) ahead of considering a decision. Updated proposals for how the hub could look, shown at library consultation events in Redditch, can be seen online at www.redditchbc.gov.uk/town-centre.

Should a new library be opened in the hub alongside the other services, then there are also proposals to regenerate its current site into a new shopping and leisure plaza, designed to improve the connection between Redditch’s indoor Kingfisher Shopping Centre and the rest of the town centre, and create new opportunities for businesses and shoppers.

Redditch’s Town Deal Board has already secured over £4m in government funding for that redevelopment. There’s more information on the Town Deal and its board of residents, local business leaders, county and borough councils, the MP, local enterprise partnership representatives and many others at www.redditchtowndeal.co.uk.