MORE than 1,000 people have signed a petition calling for better community facilities in a deprived area.

Janet Charles, vice chair of the Cottonmill and Sopwell Hub campaign group (CASH), presented the petition to a meeting of St Albans District Council on Wednsday (July 11).

She told councillors that the area lacked community facilites – with no library, no cafe, no social club, very few shops and no central pub.

And she said residents in the area – one of the most deprived in St Albans district – had identified the need for a community space.

Activities for children and young people, for toddler play, for people with special educational needs and for the over-50s, she said, were among those that had been identified as needed.

The petition called on the  council to provide the community hub in the Sopwell and Cottonmill area.

And it called for the council to work in partnership with CASH to ensure that any facility meets the needs of the whole community; improving the quality of life for residents in an inclusive and sustainable way.

Ms Charles said  a number of groups had also been identified that would be willing to pay to use the facility, to ensure it was sustainable.

At the meeting Cllr Julian Daly said the council had already started to work with the CASH and the Sopwell Community Trust, in relation to the calls for a community hub. And he said that that dialogue would continue.

Following the debate the petition was to be forwarded to Cllr Daly, as the councillor responsible for commercial and development.