Plans for a community hub in Warfield alongside thousands of new homes are edging one step closer to fruition.

Bracknell Forest Council’s cabinet will meet next week to decide whether to supply funding for the community centre for which plans have been ‘years in the making’.

The area is being subject to major housing plans totalling to 2,200 new homes, known as the Warfield strategic development.

The community hub will cost  £13.7 million to build, with costs split between Bracknell Forest Council and Warfield Parish Council.

A report prepared ahead of the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, October 15 says the hub ‘will provide a sustainable and inclusive community centre in an area with a growing population that has been undeserved in the past by community centre facilities’.

It will provide a range of facilities which could include a café and events area, sports hall, mid-sized hall, dance studio and meeting rooms.

Warfield Parish Council will also be based at the centre, with a council chamber included inside.

The outside space could include a terrace area, car park of around 120 spaces with EV charging points and bicycle spaces.

Alongside this there will be a play area and improved sports field.

It will operate as net zero and be complete by February 2027, opening for use later on that year.

Currently, the community is served by Brownlow Memorial Hall owned by Warfield Church.

But there are no plans to increase doctor or dental provision – as Warfield Parish Council said this allocation was outside of its influence.

Councillor Gareth Barnard, chairman of Warfield Parish Council and ward member for Warfield at Bracknell Forest Council said the plans had been ‘many years in the making’.

Cllr Barnard said: “The hub will provide a platform to deliver a wide range of activities and provision for residents in the local community across the flexible spaces on offer and will be open to all.”

The executive report says that the hub will ‘benefit all age groups and people from all backgrounds including children, young people, families, working age and older people’.

Activities hosted will ‘enable people to have fun, improve their health and wellbeing, reduce isolation and learn new skills’.

Councillor Iskander Jefferies, cabinet member for leisure, culture, public protection and democracy said: “Bracknell Forest Council does not currently provide a community centre in Warfield, so the proposal for the new multi-functional facility is a really exciting development.”

The council's cabinet will discuss the proposals at an upcoming meeting on Tuesday, October 15.