The project is now progressing with momentum as the project team spend quite a few days per week monitoring progress, providing the design detail requested by the contractor and attending progress review and workshop meetings. 

The general design was shared with the public at the 7th July Information Event and for those who were unable attend it can also be found on the Parish Council website. Feedback from the event has been useful with some 80% of the attendees still supporting the project. A good number of people provided useful suggestions and some, especially relating to how to reduce costs further, are being pursued in some detail. 

The joint Wealden District Council/Parish Council Project Board agreed at its 22nd July meeting that the project should now progress to what is known in the trade as RIBA stage 3. This means providing more detail to the design, together with producing supporting information for the forthcoming planning application. There is considerable pressure on the contractor to make the submission by end August in order to achieve planning approval in December, and thereby maintain the overall programme schedule. 

Specialist meetings have been held to address options for cost savings and in particular the more expensive elements of the mechanical and electrical aspects of the design. Firming up on the design means detailed costings can be undertaken and we can confirm that the current budget will meet the anticipated expenditure. 

The legal documentation needed for the Development Agreement with WDC and also the Agreement for Lease with WDC, are now both in the hands of the respective lawyers. On completion a recently formed organisation, known as Mayfield Community Centre CIO, will take a lease on the community centre and operate the new centre once completed – in much the same way as for the old Mayfield Memorial Hall. Trustees have been appointed and anyone interested in helping run the CIO should contact them via the parish clerk.