Why Hay needs a community campus

Hay-on-Wye is a town that punches well above its weight. Famous the world over for its bookshops and its festival, it draws visitors from across the globe and inspires fierce loyalty in the people who live here. But behind the independent spirit and the literary reputation, there's a practical reality that residents know well: Hay has been missing something for a very long time.

For more than twenty years, the community has been without the shared facilities it needs and deserves. A proper space for young people. Somewhere for community groups to meet and grow. A fitness facility. A place to grow food, to play sport in all weathers, to start a business without having to travel. The kind of infrastructure that most towns take for granted.

It hasn't been for lack of trying. Back in 2009, there were plans for a new school and a youth and community building on the Forest Road site, but those plans weren't progressed. Now, with £200,000 approved by Powys County Council, the backing of Hay Town Council, and a team of local architects and planning consultants already at work, the Hay Community Campus is moving from vision to reality.

HADSCAL (Hay & District Sports & Community Association Ltd) has owned the Forest Road site since 1994. Over the years, it developed two full-size football pitches, floodlighting and a stand, giving Hay St Mary's Football Club a home. But the wider vision is for a genuine community campus for everyone.

The plans include a community building, swimming pool, sports and fitness facilities, a growing space and ten business units, all built to near-carbon-neutral standards, designed to serve the whole community and sustain itself financially for decades to come.

The plans will be developed with the community at the centre of every decision. This website is part of that commitment. We'll share every step of the journey here, openly and honestly, and we want to hear from you along the way.

Hay has always been a remarkable place. It's time it had the community campus to match.