PLANS for a new community centre on land between River Way and Pilgrims Way, Andover, are still on hold because councillors have underestimated how much the facility will cost.

It means two and half years after proposals for the centre took root, there’s still no building in place.

A recent meeting of the Councillor’s Forum heard there’s a shortfall of between £64,000 and £100,000.

“Test Valley put aside £300,000 for the original building, which would hold 120 people standing.

“The council has now heard from architects who say to build to the original specifications would cost up to £100,000 more,” said Donald MacDonald, chairman of the community association which has campaigned for the facility.

“We met with the council last week and there’s now a suggestion of reducing the plans to fit the cash. This isn’t what we want at all; the last thing needed is for there to be skimping on the planning,” he said.

A number of groups have expressed an interest in using the centre once it’s up and running and Donald MacDonald says they’re constantly asked about its progress.

“It’s frustrating but we are trying to work with the council. If the plans are reduced much more it would be pointless building the venue because it wouldn’t be able to accommodate enough people,” he said.

Ian McKie, the head of leisure services at Test Valley Borough Council says there is no danger of anything not being built on the site, but that more thought has to go into the options available.

“There are three alternatives as we see it; building within budget, building slightly larger at an extra cost or building a lot larger and re-thinking the finances. It’s up to the committee to decide which one.”

The issue will be raised at the next meeting of the Executive Committee on 25 September.