A WIRRAL rugby club wants to become the new hub of its local community, an area many argue has been deprived of a cultural centre for many years.

Prenton Rugby Club has been given permission to build a community hall on its grounds, with the hope that it can be used for a wide variety of events.

While the club has had much support for its plans, including community funds from local councillors, it has not yet got enough funding to reach a stage where spades can be put in the ground and work on the hall can begin.

The club aims to be at this point in January.

When the hall is finished, it will be used for Prenton Rugby Club's own events, but project manager Brian Elkerton said its broader aim is to help bring back a sense of community to Prenton.

One of the plans for the hall is to host coffee mornings between 9am and 12pm every Monday and Wednesday, a great opportunity for locals to meet one another and make new friends.

Mr Elkerton said he had spoken to elderly people in the area who had so little human contact that they would book a doctors' appointment just to speak to someone.

He added that a local firm has agreed to sponsor a minibus to drop-off and pick-up people, so that no one is excluded even if they cannot drive.

On Monday and Wednesday nights, the hall will host a ‘Youth Cafe’ between 6.30pm and 8pm which will run a variety of activities and provide somewhere for young people in the local area to meet.

The hall will also have space to accommodate activities such as Zumba classes.

While the community hall is something in the works, the club has nearly finished creating a community garden.

Once completed, the club’s plan is to allow residents to manage the garden, making them feel part of the club and its project to improve Prenton.

Members of the club are at the site every Wednesday and Saturday morning and are keen for locals to get involved in looking after the garden.

Cllr Tony Norbury, who represents Prenton, has given the majority of his Wirral Together fund, a sum of money given to councillors every year to fund schemes in their ward, to the rugby club’s project.

The sum varies from area to area based on factors such as population and perceived need, but in Prenton councillors get around £7,000 per year to support local initiatives which benefit the community.

Speak about the community garden, Cllr Norbury said: “It is part of a big community project that Prenton Rugby Club started a few years ago hoping to bring the communities in Prenton together to enjoy sporting facilities.

“Part of that is a community garden that we have helped finance as Labour councillors.

“This is going to be such an integral part of the community of Prenton, we’re going to have raised beds so that people with disabilities can come up and use the facility.

“We’re going to have little spaces where people can sit off in comfort and relax [and] we’ve got some beautiful trees that we’ve rescued from the scrubland.”

He added that the community garden was an idea he had during the lockdown, noting that there are many flats in Prenton so a community garden which everybody can use would benefit people’s wellbeing.

Cllr Norbury is one of three Prenton councillors.

His ward colleague Cllr Chris Cooke, who represents the Green Party, has also contributed to the project.

Cllr Cooke gave 10% of his Wirral Together fund to the project last year and 20% of the fund to the community gardens element of the project this year.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he wants to spread his funds around and support around eight or nine different community initiatives each year.

Prenton councillor Sam Frost was approached for comment, but did not respond by the time of publication. However, it is understood that Cllr Frost has also put a significant portion of her Wirral Together money towards the project.

The club also hopes to have a 3G pitch on its grounds, a very useful addition which avoids sports teams having to use unplayable pitches when the worst weather strikes.

The pitch will not be restricted to rugby.

It will be open to the community for booking and will be available to use for sports including football.

Prenton Rugby Club has been hoping for financial support from Wirral Council for its community hub, but this now appears unlikely.

The club is also seeking other sources of funding, including through the charity route as it is a non-profit organisation.

A spokesperson for Wirral Council, said: “Through the Birkenhead Constituency Committee, we have built a constructive relationship with the people at Prenton Rugby Club and we’ve worked together on a number of things, including a bid for a small grant to develop a countryside trail around their land.

“We have also seen the exciting plans that they have for the ‘community hub’ and have been trying to support the club in bringing them forward. We recognise that such a facility would be beneficial to the Prenton area and fulfil a need for community space there.

“Unfortunately, their bid for capital funding from the council to support them was unsuccessful. Prenton Rugby Club is a privately-run facility, and the council is not able to provide capital grants for such developments.”

The local authority added that it will “continue to work with the club in an effort to support them in identifying other solutions to the funding issue”.