Writhlington Village Hall will be receiving its much hoped for tarmacked car park to help alleviate school drop-off and pick-up in the village. Parents are currently using the grassy area to the rear of the hall to drop off their children for St Mary’s Primary School, which is unusable during the winter.
Thanks to extensive lobbying by Town Councillor, Keith Tyrrell, generous grants from the Writhlington Village Hall committee, Big Local, Radstock Town Council and a discount from the contractor, the £24,500 scheme can now finally go ahead. It is hoped that work will be completed by the end of March.
The subject has been tied up with a bitter discussion about Section 106 funding, with the discovery that money from the new housing development in the village at Knobsbury Lane had been reportedly allocated by B&NES to Midsomer
Norton via Writhlington Leisure Centre.
Developer contributions, or Section 106 money, will now become Community Infrastructure Levy or CIL, which will be a statutory tariff calculated by the local authority.
Speaking about the missed opportunity, Cllr Tyrrell said: “Every time we have tried to get information on where this money has been spent, the doors have been shut. My head tells me at some point we have to let this go.
“As contentious and aggravating as it is, the bigger picture is that we need to start conversations now for all future developments in our area that we are involved with, and I think we have to sacrifice this particular site at Writhlington, losing this battle to win the war. It’s important we now work far more closely with B&NES to get what we are entitled to.”
Cllr Chris Dando suggested that Councillors now create a shopping list of what they would like to see CIL funds spent on, should other developments take place within the
Radstock or Writhlington wards.