New Year looking bright for future of community infrastructure
it may be a typical gloomy January out there but this New Year is looking bright for the future of Crawley’s community infrastructure. There are five projects that I’d like to highlight which have received a significant boost in the last few weeks courtesy of our Borough Council.
First of all is the news that Broadfield Stadium, of course home to Crawley Town FC, has received planning permission from the Town Hall for a new 2,150 seat capacity East Stand will help our fantastic football team grow further and remain a Football League club. New floodlighting and turnstiles will be features of this new facility too.
Secondly, due to the commitment of the Council leadership, our great community asset, The Hawth, will remain in public ownership yet get the benefit of being run day-to-day by a private theatre company with experience of administering similar stages elsewhere in the country. This will mean that the benefit of low ticket prices for community productions will remain but that The Hawth will see increased investment to enhance the services on offer, such as refurbishing the bar and food areas, all whilst saving the local taxpayer two-and-a-half million pounds. This is a very similar model to the way the successful K2 leisure centre is run.
Thirdly, Crawley Borough Council has been successful in securing a grant of £2.4 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and The Big Lottery Fund to restore Worth Park to its former Victorian glory. The money from the funds’ joint Parks for People programme will be used to restore and enhance the area and ensure that more people tour and enjoy this historic park. Work to begin is expected to start shortly and I can’t wait to visit with my family on a future sunny day.
Fourthly, Tilgate Parade is about to be revamped. Much needed new lighting, paving, parking and planting will all feature in the much welcomed investment scheme. Crawley’s local parades are a great success story of our neighbourhood communities within the whole community of our new town. This latest upgrade follows on from others that have previously been completed in recent times, such as at Langley Green.
Finally, but not least, by working with West Sussex County Council, Crawley Borough will be supporting an investment of £600,000 in to the Manor Royal Business District. This will include improved facilities like a broadband upgrade (to include the entire town), improving highway facilities as well as security measures like CCTV. The Town Hall’s efforts in promoting Crawley as the premier place to locate business and so boost employment are paying off. For example, the announcement on January 5th that Nestle are locating their UK headquarters here is great news for the economy.
So I congratulate Crawley Council on a great start to this special year of 2012. Added to this the upcoming tax year is promising too with our local authorities successfully working with the Government to extend the council tax freeze for another year.
In Parliament I feel especially proud to represent our great community.
Henry Smith - MP for Crawley
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Weather for Crawley
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 12 C to 25 C
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Wind direction: East
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