A significant grant has been offered in principle towards the construction of a new community hall
to serve the Ty Sign estate in Risca.
The Agape Community Church, a registered charity has been
leading efforts to get funding for a new hall. They have met in the existing Channel View
Community Hall for the last 18 years, but are now seeking to develop a new building to further
support the work undertaken and increase opportunities within the community.
If current negotiations can be completed, a new hall could be built on the ‘Spar Field’ in the centre
of the Ty Sign estate. It would have a community hall, storage, toilets and fully equipped kitchen,
and would be up to modern standards of insulation. Most importantly, it would be open to all of
the community and would be located in the centre of the estate.
Colin Dexter, one of the leaders of the church said “We visited several modern active community
facilities at the start of this project and saw no reason why Ty Sign should not also have a new,
light, economic, accessible community facility. Like Channel View Hall it would be available to all
and bring new opportunities and possibilities. It would also complement the existing spaces at the
TLC cafe and St David’s church providing a breadth of resources to the various groups that require
community space. We are delighted in the confidence shown by the various funding bodies”.
The largest elements of the potential funding have come from the Welsh Government’s
‘Community Facilities Fund’ and the Big Lottery’s ‘People and Places’ programme. Planning consent
for the scheme was granted earlier this year. Negotiations on the scheme need to be completed,
but it is hoped that construction of the new hall will start in the Autumn.
Islwyn’s representative in the Senedd, Rhianon Passmore – a former county borough councillor for
the Risca East ward – described the funding as “good news for the whole area”.
