Arborfield Green's community centre is now targeted to open during 2028, with planning due in early 2027. Architects are appointed and about £13,000 is spent.
Arborfield Green’s promised community centre is now expected to open during 2028. A planning application should go in early next year, and building work could start later in 2027.
Wokingham Borough Council set out the timetable at its full council meeting on Thursday 17 September, in answer to a question from councillor Charles Margetts. The answer is recorded in the draft minutes of that meeting (Wokingham Borough Council, draft minutes, 17 September 2026, item 44.10).
What the council said
The executive member for housing gave this update:
- FBM Architects has been appointed to lead the next stage of design
- the land and budget transfer from Crest Nicholson is “very close” to being finalised
- a planning application is expected to be submitted in early 2027
- construction is hoped to start later in 2027
- the target opening date is “expected during 2028”
- about £13,000 has been spent on the project so far
The council said spending will now rise as the scheme moves into active design. A community centre working group of residents will keep feeding into the designs.
The date has moved back again
The new building will replace a former military training building at Arborfield Green. When the council announced the plan in November 2025, its own report forecast that the centre would be “operational end of 2027/start of 2028” (Executive report, 20 November 2025). The council’s news release that week said it “could be built and opened by early 2028” (Wokingham Borough Council, 13 November 2025).
The latest answer gives no season, only “during 2028”. It also depends on progress continuing “in line with current expectations”.
The same November report sets a long-stop date. Under the draft delivery terms, the council must have built the centre by the end of 2028.
Why a new building rather than a conversion
A community centre is required by the legal agreement behind the Arborfield Green development, where around 2,000 homes have outline permission. Planning permission was granted in October 2023 to convert and extend the old Army training building.
Council officers then turned against that option. The November report said the old building had poor fabric and high running costs. Fitting community uses into it would also have pushed health rooms up to the first floor. The council’s conclusion was that it “does not represent Best Value”.
Instead, the report proposed:
- Crest Nicholson demolishes the old building and clears the site
- the freehold and the developer’s capital contribution pass to the council
- the council designs and builds a smaller new centre itself
- a third-party operator runs it, at no ongoing cost to the council
The developer’s contribution is capped. The report put the index-linked cap at £4,049,496 in September 2025. It said a centre with every requested facility could cost up to £6.5 million, but a smaller building could be delivered within the cap. No other funding had been committed.
What it will have
The council’s November release listed the planned facilities (Wokingham Borough Council, 13 November 2025):
- a café
- a library
- flexible meeting spaces
- rooms for hire
It will sit between Sainsbury’s and the leisure centre, off Nine Mile Ride Extension. Rooms for non-acute health services are possible, but depend on NHS commissioners.
What it means for you
- Nothing closes yet. The existing Arborfield Green Community Centre on Princess Marina Drive, where nurseries currently operate, cannot close until the new centre is built and handed over. That is a condition of the legal agreement, according to the November report.
- The next chance to comment is the planning application, expected early in 2027. We will report it when it is lodged. Our Wokingham planning news page lists how to follow and comment on applications.
- The design is still open. The council says the community centre working group will keep putting residents’ views into the design. Barkham and Arborfield ward councillors are the first point of contact.
Have your say