One hundred and fifty one parishioners turned out on the 7^th July to visit Mayfield’s Scout and Guide hall where the latest floor plans, external elevations and artists’ impressions of Mayfield’s new Community and Health Centre were on display. We consider this to be not a bad turn-out since the weather for much of the day was poor and will have impacted attendance levels.

The designs were recently completed by Miller Bourne Architects, who have worked closely with Baxall Construction and the Parish Council team to develop a building that satisfies the design brief and which meets the needs of the community. The latest design is based on the original scheme that received planning approval but which has been made affordable by adopting a ‘Design & Build’ method of construction along with a number of modifications and necessary compromises to the community centre.

The health centre has remained at a fixed area of 350m2 to meet the minimum requirements of the NHS Design Guidelines, while the community centre has had to be reduced by over 30% from 685m2 to 470m2, although the community hall remains the same size as that of the old Memorial hall and has most of the original facilities.

Of those 151 attendees, 59 made written observations on the forms provided at the event. We are pleased to report that 81% were supportive of the design and general proposal with almost half (44%) actually using the word ‘excellent design’ or similar. We were also pleased that 15% of the respondents said that they were appreciative of the efforts of the councillor team in getting the project thus far. 

In addition, 58% of the respondees individually took the opportunity to comment on the numerous detailed aspects of the design. Some 8% thought the building design was not in keeping with the vernacular of the village. A very small number thought the building was too large, whereas others though it too small. A similar percentage (8%) thought the health centre should be located elsewhere in the village – not dissimilar to feedback from previous consultation events. 

Other comments included concerns over a potential lack of storage space, the flat roof, kitchen location, entrance steps and potential traffic congestion, whilst sports changing rooms, a green living roof, a cafe rather than community hub and red tarmac instead of bricks for the roadway were deemed by some to be desirable.

The comments will be noted where possible as the design progresses, especially those relating to possible cost reductions or where implementation might be relatively straightforward. However, whilst the input is useful, many people making individual comments on the design, whilst relevant, were not fully cognisant of the numerous design constraints and the fact that designing a new community centre is very much a balance of conflicting requirements. Overall, the view seems to be that the design meets the original major design requirements – but it is accepted that not everyone will be happy (which unfortunately will never be achievable) however, the overriding message was ‘just get on with it’.