Buckhurst Hill Parish Council is moving ahead with its plans to build a new community facility on the site of the current Roding Valley Hall.

The council's accommodation committee is to move on to the design stage, despite some concerns over the location and how demand and other issues may have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Accommodation Committee chairman councillor Bobby Nagpal told Thursday's meeting: "All of us have been focussed on this project for several years.

"What we are proposing is a centre for the community. People do want some sort of hub and a centre."

Councillor Joseph Barkham said: "We will have a better idea once the design is agreed and I agree with the other councillors having somewhere right on the edge (of Buckhurst Hill) is not ideal but we are working with what we have got."

He added: "We are guardians of the money that has been collected. We have got to spend it properly and do it right. We are proposing to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds."

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