A YOUTH centre is celebrating a big step on the journey to owning its own building.

The Callington Youth Project Group (CYPG) is currently fundraising hard to buy the property it rents in the centre of town.

The former Lloyds Bank building in Fore Street – now known as The Vault – is open Wednesday and Friday evenings for young people aged 13-21 to meet safely and socialise.

An award of £100,000 from Cornwall’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Fund has brought the group’s appeal to the half way mark.

It will cost around £245,000 to buy the building and cover legal fees and planning consent for the upgrade of the property.

“We were very pleased to receive news of this grant from the Community Infrastructure Levy Fund,” said chairman of CYPG Paul Carey.

“Together with funding from the Community Capacity Fund and £30,000 from Callington Town Council, we are now just over half way towards our target. We still need to raise a further £100,000. We hope that some of this will come from the local community, either directly or through our JustGiving campaign, which currently stands at just under £1,000.”

The committee hopes eventually to convert the upper floors to four flats for affordable rent.

“Once we have bought the building we will be free to further develop the space,” Paul continues.

“The idea is that the flats could be let to young adults in their first jobs, and the rent would help keep the youth club running.” 

Village halls, youth centres and community spaces across Cornwall have shared in the fourth round of CIL funding worth a total of £1.9m.

After a vigorous selection process, 23 successful projects have been announced.

Another in South East Cornwall to benefit is The Zone Health and Wellbeing Hub in Dowderry, which has received £80,000 towards the purchase of the Methodist Chapel. The chapel, recently closed as a place of worship, has supported community activities for more than a decade.

Olly Monk, Cornwall Council cabinet portfolio holder for housing and planning, said: “The Community Infrastructure Levy allows us to raise funds from new developments and pass this on to community projects making a real difference.

“As with previous CIL fund rounds, we were inundated with expressions of interest from worthy projects. There are many organisations working to improve life for our communities and I am pleased we are able to put CIL funding to very good use.”

CIL payments are set aside to be spent on projects to benefit communities and support development. Five per cent is retained by Cornwall Council towards the cost of running CIL, and between 15 to 25 per cent of the levy goes to the town or parish council where the development has taken place.

The remaining CIL collected is used to deliver infrastructure that will help alleviate the wider impact of development. 

Applicants needed to show how there was local need and community support for their project, as well as how the projects will help alleviate the impact of development in an area or support development.