Five Acres Regeneration Project granted extension
Forest of Dean District Council has been granted a 12-month extension on the Five Acres regeneration project.
This means that the deadline to spend the grant money awarded to Forest of Dean District Council as part of the successful Levelling Up Fund bid, has been extended until March 2026.
The council secured the extension after working closely with representatives from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Cabinet Member for Economy, Cllr Johnathan Lane said:
“This extension is essential to provide sufficient time for us to enter into a detailed construction contract and begin the first phase of development at Five Acres.
“We remain committed to delivering a leisure and sporting facility that can be enjoyed by the local community in Berry Hill and the wider Forest of Dean.
“We will be continuing to work hard with partners to deliver this ambitious and exciting project and will continue to provide updates and communications during the process.”
In addition to this, work at the site has been continuing, with recent developments involving the removal of rubble piles from the site being re-used in local projects, including being used to form part of a new access road near Steam Mills, on land owned by Cinderford Town Council. Additionally, an agreement was also made with local contractor MF Freeman to clear and re-use rubble from the remaining stockpiles on site, this has also been used in local building projects.
In January 2025, we will submit our bid to the Football Association for financial support towards the 3G pitch at Five Acres. The playing pitch area will feature floodlights and a spectator area, which will be subject to a separate planning application as part of phase two of the project. Details of this application will be announced by the council in due course.
Full details for the Five Acres site redevelopment, as well as documents including designs, and comments and questions from previous public forum events can be found at the link below:
https://www.fdean.gov.uk/planning-and-building/regeneration/five-acres-redevelopment-site/