Plans approved for £350k project set to see shop relocated to Oxton community venue

A £350,000 refurbishment and extension will see the hall, built in 1924 to honour the village’s First World War dead, turned into a community hub with new toilets, kitchen facilities and meeting space.

Its extension into an adjoining field also means that Oxton Community Shop, currently housed in a portable cabin next door, can relocate into the hall, more than doubling its size.

Discussions about improving or replacing the hall have been ongoing for at least 10 years but, until now, had come to nothing.

“We have been trying to get something done to the hall for a number of years,” hall and shop committee member Sandy Sutherland said. “There have been problems with planning in the past, then major problems with funding. We were originally going to build a new hall but scaled back our plans to a new extension.

“This will see it become a community hub with a greatly-enlarged kitchen.

“We’ll also be able to make everything all on one level, making it more accessible for all. It has been badly needing attention.

“The footprint for the new shop will be more than twice the size of the portable cabin, and that will be a big boost.”

“We’ve already got the makings of a business plan in place, but the planning permission is a big step forward.”

Its anticipated the revamp will be funded by local fundraising and wind farm fund contributions.

Once that money is secured, villagers hope to see work get under way next year and take around six months to complete.

A share initiative at the shop launched in January raised more than £18,000.