Money awarded by Havant Borough Council through its Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) has helped a local community café.
Hewitt’s Community Café in South Street, Emsworth is run by The Right to Work Community Interest Company (CIC) who offer new and exciting range of work-related day service opportunities for people with learning disabilities.
Awarded £5,100 for new kitchen facilities, the café has used the opportunity of lockdown to refit and refurbish its kitchen.
The popular café will once again be able to give sustainable and appropriate work opportunities for people who can and want to work but require support to do so.
Councillor Leah Turner, Cabinet Lead for Coastal Communities, said “This is a fantastic example of how CIL funding can help in the community.”
"I have had the pleasure of visiting Hewitts Community Cafe several times and this project supports the disadvantaged young people who enjoy working in the cafe, cooking and serving delicious food to local people."
Debbie Lyall, Managing Director of The Right to Work CIC, said: "Receiving this funding has allowed us to modernise the kitchen, which has made a huge difference to our teams who work in there.
"Sadly, the situation with the coronavirus pandemic means that we were unable to provide supported work at the moment, and we are unable to open the cafe. However, we are looking forward to re-opening again once the restrictions are lifted."
CIL is a charge set on new developments in order to raise funds that are then allocated to subsidise infrastructure, facilities and services needed in the community.
The Neighbourhood CIL fund is spent on neighbourhood projects. Since being implemented in 2013 Havant Borough Council has collected more than £1.5m, earmarking £785K for new infrastructure to support the local community. More information about this can be found on our website.
More information is available about Hewitts café and The Right to Work Community Interest Company.