Sunnyside community centre could become new discount shop

The community centre in Moisant Street, Great Lever, has been empty since closing in 2018, being described as an ‘underutilised and deteriorating asset’ in a previous report.

But if the plans are accepted by Bolton Council‘s planning committee on Thursday, April 16, the space will be converted into a new shop with a café.

The planning report stated: “The application site is a disused community centre located within a predominantly residential area.

The Sunnyside Community Centre gates (Image: Martini)

“The proposal would bring back into use an empty building – the proposed development seeks to refurbish the building and provide facilities that would better serve the local community.

“Allowing this vacant building to be refurbished and brought back into use is to the benefit of the site and local area.”

Various community groups used the Sunnyside Centre before it was closed down in 2018, including the Bolton Young Persons Housing Scheme and Sunnyside Residents Association.

After closing, Sunnyside was repeatedly targeted by vandals, including a 2022 incident which left the area strewn with canisters of nitrous oxide.

Sunnyside Centre after it was broken into and vandalised in 2022 (Image: Martini)

Executing the new plans is estimated to cost approximately £400,000.

This will see a ‘discount surplus store’ installed in the building, as well as a café and community advice spaces.

The report noted that, if the space was not regenerated in this or some other way, it “would likely require demolition”.

The proposed hours of opening are: 9am-5.30pm Monday to Friday and 9am-3pm Saturday, with closures on Sundays and bank holidays.

There will be changes made to the building’s windows, and some will be bricked up to allow the building to become internally single-storey.

The community centre was broken into in 2022 (Image: Public)

The existing gable roof will be replaced with a hipped roof – a type of roof where all four sides slope inwards towards a central ridge and away towards the exterior walls of the building.

The proposed works to the roof would result in the loss of the mock Tudor beam features to the North, South and West elevations of the building, though this loss is considered ‘acceptable’.

The report raised concerns around the impact the development may have on the neighbouring streets.

However, ‘it is considered that the public benefits to the community as a result of the proposal outweigh the Officer’s concerns regarding the impact on the immediately adjacent roads.’

The planning committee are recommended to approve the application.