A plan to build a new community-run sea safety centre in Aberystwyth has been hatched after membership of the town’s surf life-saving club rocketed.

Ceredigion County Council is currently recruiting a team to bring forward initial designs and a feasibility study for a new venue for the Aberystwyth Surf Life Saving Club, overlooking Cardigan Bay.

While study and design will cost around £70,000, the council said that the project is very much in its in infancy and that no funding has been secured for any development.

The project will provide a new headquarters for the club, which is currently based inside a former beachfront public toilet on Marine Terrace, overlooking North Beach.

New facilities for other coastal commercial activities such as a café or shop may also be included, a brief sent to potential design teams says.

“Aberystwyth Surf Life Saving Club trains young people and adults in beach and sea activities encouraging members of the community to be active in their awareness of the coastal environment – its dangers and its potentials,” the council’s brief says.

“The future activities, growth and development of the club of activities and its service to the community are restricted by lack of decent facilities.

“The current club premises – in old public toilets on the first floor above an old public shelter leased from the county council – are inadequate: they are too small, damp and in poor condition; there is evidence of movement in the building’s structure; [during much of the year], activities are curtailed due to lack of adequate and suitable space for indoor training; and there is no disabled access."

The new safety centre will feature a 20-to-30 capacity classroom, offices, a common room, toilets, kitchen, changing rooms, a bar, storage area, and a balcony.

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