PLANS to create a ‘one-stop shop’ for the community at the Neyland Athletic Club site are a step closer, after Cabinet members backed a request to borrow £190,000 from the council’s reserves.

At a meeting on Monday (September 14), members agreed in principle to grant Neyland Community Interest Company (CIC) a bridging loan of £190,000, to help pay for its ambitious redevelopment of the club, which is expected to cost around £2 million.

The money would help tide the project over until Neyland Town Council – who will have a dedicated office at the new building - can sell its existing building, and four plots on the site are sold.

A report put before members by the county council’s chief finance officer and director of development described the project as an ‘opportunity both for the residents of Neyland and surrounding areas and for the county of Pembrokeshire to develop a new, self-sustaining 21st century multi-purpose facility which could potentially become a blueprint for other communities in the county’.

But, added the report, there were two potential risks attached to lending the money.

The first was if the funding anticipated from other sources did not materialise, resulting in the project having to be scaled back or terminated.

This problem could be avoided by not releasing any funds until the proposal had been given full approval.

The second threat was that financial projections fell short, resulting in the loan not being repaid within the agreed timescale, or at all.

To protect against this, securities would need to be put in place to make sure the council’s investment was safe, should there be any default on the loan.

Members agreed to lend the money over a maximum period of five years, to work with Neyland CIC to assist them in developing their proposal, and to consider ways to avoid a predicted funding shortfall, by looking at how the new facility could potentially be used by the council for ongoing service provision.