A new design has been submitted for a pavilion on the Great Field at Poundbury.

The building will provide a cafe and toilets as well as office space for the Alcohol Education Trust which offers information on the safe use of alcohol by young people.

The timber clad building, with a veranda, has been changed from the original proposals and will now be single storey and more ‘agricultural’ in appearance to fit in better with Duchy of Cornwall design principles for the royal estate. It will have natural slate on the roof with integrated solar panels.

The pavilion is to be built in the centre of the Great Field near the cricket pitch and proposed play area.

The building will have a café, community space, kitchen and toilets with offices for the Alcohol Education Trust. The café will serve hot and cold drinks, cakes, salads and sandwiches as well as simple hot food such as soup, toasties and jacket potatoes which will be prepared and cooked on the premises.

The new application has so far attracted one objection – from Felicity Hebditch who live in nearby St Johns Way. She has written to Dorset Council planners to say that another ‘coffee shop’, as she describes it, is not needed and would prefer to see with Great Field without any buildings on it.

Dorchester town councillors when discussing the previous scheme were worried that the building might become a place for youngsters to hang out in the evenings with the risk of noise and disturbance for those living nearby. The council has not discussed the new application which is open for public comment until June 19.

Local builder C G Fry have offered to put up the building at cost price with a crowdfunding appeal launched to help find the £180,000 needed, much of which will be matched on a 50-50 basis by grants.

If the building is approved, with the decision delegated to a planning officer, work could start in the autumn.

For further information about the project –

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/pip-s-cafe-community-hub-great-field-poundbury