The Main Place came into being as the result of Partnership working between the Coleford Area MCTI Partnership, Gloucestershire County Council, Forest of Dean District Council and the South West Regional Development Agency.

“Time for Coleford”, the Strategic Plan prepared by the Coleford Area MCTI Partnership after a great deal of consultation with the community, was published and submitted in draft for approval to the South West Regional Development Agency on 18th November 2003, Discussions had already begun with Gloucestershire County Council in the previous summer regarding the replacement of the old Coleford Community Centre in Bank Street that was badly in need of refurbishment or replacement. The County Council had no money to pay for such a project and the breakthrough came when government announced that facilities should be provided in local towns for a day centre for Adults with Learning Disabilities.

This lead to many meetings and finally officers of the South West Regional Development Agency came up with an offer that could not be refused. SWRDA would provide the money for the District Council to purchase the Bank Street site from the County Council. This would provide land for housing and also unlock a land-locked site in the process.  The County Council would then re-invest the income from that sale in a new building. SWRDA also agreed to provide an additional sum of money to enable premises to be built that would provide the opportunity for training and employment. The outcome of this project will enable three of the priorities identified in “Time for Coleford” to be achieved. 

The District Council provided the new site at Old Station Way and work on site finally began just after Easter 2009.  The project was dogged with bad weather but the premises were finally handed over on 12th February 2010 and the Coleford Area MCTI Partnership moved in on the same evening.  The County Council Departments moved in ready for the opening to members of the public on 1st March 2010 providing a flagship Library, an Adult Day Care Centre, Youth Facilities, a Community Hall with an excellent catering kitchen and the Community Enterprise Centre.

In June 2010, the Occupiers Forum received the South West Regional Award from Action for Market Towns for Partnership working. The premises were awarded Excellent rating for green credentials under the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Model (73.37% efficiency).  Since then the partnership working between the County Council and the contractor Kier Moss or Cheltenham has earned another South West Regional Contractor/Client Award and the project ended in second place in the national finals of this same competition.

The premises were officially opened on 2nd July 2010 by the Constituency Member of Parliament, Mr. Mark Harper.  The building is a flagship, not just for Gloucestershire, but for the whole country and visits are regularly made by groups from other towns all over the south west to find out how the project was achieved.

JAM
Dec 2010