Brampton threats and opportunities

There will a special public meeting of the Brampton & District Neighbourhood Forum on 31 July at 7.00pm in William Howard School to receive a report on progress with the proposals for the future of public services and property in Brampton. This follows the last meeting of the Forum on 19 June, when over 150 people turned up to hear about these plans.

Ahead of the meeting on 31 July, there is a planning meeting at 6pm on Monday 21 July in William Howard School, which anyone can attend. This will look in detail at what is provided in the area at present to help identify what needs to be accommodated in any new facilities.

Cumbria County Council and Cumbria Primary Care Trust are intending to provide new accommodation for the services delivered at the Cottage Hospital, the Brampton Surgery and Moot Lodge care home. Their current intention is to integrate these facilities on one site to improve and expand the health and care services delivered in Brampton.

There is also an intention to make provision for “community facilities” as part of the development. Discussions are going on with Brampton Community Association, which runs the Community Centre at Union Lane, and others, about if and how this can be achieved. Other public services, such as the library and the dental practices, are also mentioned as facilities that could be affected by the plans.

Two sites are currently being considered for a new development – the 5 acre field next to Kingwater Close, and the Irthing Centre site on Union Lane. If the Irthing Centre site is chosen it would mean the demolition of the existing Brampton Community Centre and Brampton Business Centre.

Those at the June Neighbourhood Forum meeting generally welcomed the improvements in health and care services, but expressed serious concerns about the possible loss of community facilities, and about the impact which re-locating services from Front Street and the Market Place might have on the prosperity of the town centre.

All the potential partners in the new development, including Brampton Community Association, are part of a “project board”, where the options are being examined. It is not yet clear what community facilities could be provided or afforded at the new site, wherever it is.

The Community Association currently runs child care facilities, a youth project, performance and exercise spaces, a community café, rooms for a wide range of community groups. It also helps to run community projects, all based at the Community Centre. Recently, Brampton Players and Brampton Film Club have been basing their activities there. Each year the Association spends almost £300,000, it employs over 25 staff, and the Community Centre has about 50,000 visits. It has been running these services for over 10 years. Plans for expanding them, including a proposal to build a swimming pool, have had to be put on hold while this latest in a long series of Council reviews is completed.

More anxiety was created in May when Carlisle City Council indicated to its tenants occupying space in Brampton Business Centre, located on the same Union Lane site as the Community Centre, that it was intending to close the Business Centre in March next year and they would have to leave. This raised serious concerns about what would happen to the Community Centre at that point. This remains under discussion between the Association and the Council and is currently unresolved.

The health and care authorities are keen to reach a conclusion as soon as possible in order to secure government funding for new buildings. They would like to make that a decision in the autumn.