Plans have been drawn up for a new community centre in Ruddington to replace the former youth and community centre on Leys Road, which was demolished in 2023 after asbestos was found in the building fabric.
The proposed Ruddington Community Centre would be built on the former youth centre site next to The Green, with Ruddington Parish Council saying the village’s existing community facilities are no longer sufficient for its growing population.
A heritage, design and access statement prepared by Welham Architects on behalf of the parish council says the new centre is intended to provide modern, accessible space for recreational, fitness and leisure activities, village events, local societies and parish council meetings.
The proposed building would include a main events hall, a smaller events hall, a meeting room, kitchens, stage and backstage facilities, dressing rooms, public toilets, storage space and parish council offices. The main hall would have space for 120 people in banquet-style seating or 132 people in theatre-style seating, while the smaller hall would seat 48 people at tables or 84 people in theatre layout.
The site covers about 0.3 hectares and sits outside Ruddington Conservation Area, although The Green itself is within the conservation area and the document says the site lies on its boundary. The scheme is described in the statement as a minor development, with a 723 sq m building and 54 sq m of storage units.
The parish council currently operates four community facilities: St Peter’s Rooms, the Village Hall on Wilford Road, the Elms Park Pavilion and the Jubilee Clubhouse. The statement says the two village centre buildings, St Peter’s Rooms and the Village Hall, are expensive to run and maintain, while the Village Hall has an inflexible layout and only limited parking.
According to the design statement, Ruddington had a population of 7,600 at the 2021 Census and has since grown through new housing developments at Asher Lane, Wilford Road, Mere Way, Flawforth Lane and the A60. The parish council says this has increased the need for flexible, accessible community space within the village.
The former youth club land was bought by the parish council in 2019 for community use. The youth centre was later demolished in 2023 because of its condition and the extent of asbestos discovered in the building fabric.
The statement says consultation was carried out between February and April 2025 with support from Rural Community Action Nottinghamshire. This included events at Ruddington Village Market and St Peter’s Rooms, visits to local groups and an online questionnaire.
A total of 310 completed surveys were received, with 73 per cent of respondents saying they either “liked” or “really liked” the proposed plans. Changes made following consultation included more vehicle parking, repositioned electric vehicle charging spaces, a quiet space and breastfeeding room, improved wheelchair access to the stage and more external storage for community groups.
The parish council also recorded 55 booking requests which could not be accommodated between August and November 2025, including 10 recurring events. Of these, 31 were for children’s parties or children-related events, five were physical fitness requests and 21 were for other uses such as wakes, meetings, church services, adult parties, and cultural or educational activities.
Pre-application advice was sought from Rushcliffe Borough Council, with a response issued in July 2025. The statement says the council supported the principle of a new community centre in this location, subject to the application demonstrating local need and the scale of the facilities proposed.
The design has been revised in response to pre-application comments, including a reduction of more than 10 per cent in the proposed floor area. A transport assessment, acoustic assessment, arboricultural assessment, ecological report and biodiversity net gain work have also been carried out.
The proposed centre would have 48 parking spaces, including three disabled spaces and two electric vehicle charging points, with further EV charging provision planned. The car park would be accessed from Leys Road, with a drop-off zone and turning circle for emergency vehicles.
The statement says parking pressure is already a significant issue in the village centre, and that St Peter’s Rooms and the Village Hall together currently provide only six parking spaces. It says the proposed car park would not be reserved solely for community centre users and would help improve access for older residents, disabled people and others attending activities in the village centre.
The consultation found 84.2 per cent of respondents expected to reach the new centre on foot, with a further 11 per cent saying they would travel by bicycle or public transport. The plans include a covered cycle store and repair stand.
The proposed building would be single-storey and set back from Leys Road, with its main pedestrian entrance facing The Green. The statement says the main entrance has been positioned to be visible to people approaching from the village, while parking would sit to the rear and be partly visible from The Green.
The design uses red facing brickwork, green vertical timber cladding, vertical Cedral cladding, anthracite aluminium windows and a single-ply roof membrane. The statement says consultation showed support for a contemporary building that still reflected the village’s dominant red brick character.
A northern boundary wall, described as a 20th-century wall built at the same time as the former youth club, would be removed because its retention is not possible under the proposed scheme. A new wall would be built on the same line and at a similar height, with seating and planting, to maintain its boundary function next to The Green.
The document says Ruddington’s character is shaped by its 19th-century framework knitting heritage, workers’ cottages and narrow streets, with 23 Grade II listed buildings in the village. It says the conservation officer considered the former Free School to be sufficiently distant and facing in a different direction, meaning the proposal would not affect its setting in a way that would affect its significance.
The building is also intended to support events on The Green by providing toilets, storage, first aid and accessible facilities for events such as Ruddington Village Market, Ruddfest, Street Food Summer Social, Merry Monday May celebrations and Ruddington Makers’ Night.
An acoustic assessment by Infinity Acoustics concluded that amplified music from the site and mechanical plant noise would fall below the “Lowest Observed Adverse Effect Level”, according to the statement.
The plans would require the removal of one individual tree, one tree group and part of one hedgerow. EMEC Arboriculture found no trees on the site are protected by a Tree Preservation Order and that the site is not in a conservation area. Tree protection fencing and temporary ground protection are proposed for retained trees and root protection areas.
Ecology work by EMEC found no protected species recorded within the site. The landscape proposals include a biodiverse green roof, modified grassland around the car park edges, planters, 11 small urban trees and 25 metres of native hedgerow with trees along the southern boundary. The statement says the scheme would deliver a 12.56 per cent net gain in habitat units and an 87.24 per cent net gain in hedgerow units.
The building’s sustainability measures include solar panels, battery storage, underfloor heating, passive ventilation, sedum roofs, rainwater harvesting, permeable paving and on-site composting.
Accessibility measures include level access across the site, three accessible parking bays, a drop-off zone, powered entrance doors, accessible entrances from Leys Road and The Green, contrasting materials to help identify routes, benches near entrances and five accessible toilets inside the building. The stage would also be accessible by ramp through the backstage area.
The application has not yet been decided. Rushcliffe Borough Council will consider the planning application before deciding whether the new community centre can go ahead.