Bishton Community Council is undertaking a large community project in partnership with Active Underwood to help the local community take ownership of their own assets and services. The project will bring about a final outcome aimed at improving the organisation of local voluntary community services and strengthening their impact on the community. Construction is planned to begin in March/April 2019 and be completed by October 2019.

The main focus for the project is a large capital investment to increase the capacity of Underwood Community Centre and move the current community gym (managed by Active Underwood) into a bigger, better and more sustainable facility. Funding for the construction has been secured and it will be financed via capital claims schemes provided by the Rural Community Development Fund (Welsh Government), the European Union Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe Investing in Rural Areas and the Big Lottery Fund. This will create room for the service to expand and meet its growing demands in the community whilst helping the group create extra income to improve other services in the area. The extension will also allow the storage capacity to be improved at the Community Centre which has become a big issue recently, especially for the Mums and Tots group. A meeting "hub" will also be created in the vacated area for Bishton Community Council and other meetings to take place without disrupting activities in the main hall.

Once the capital works are complete, the new facility will be opened to the public as “Underwood Barbell” and become the first "Community Business Enterprise" managed by Active Underwood. Put simply, the facility will be run at a small profit after overheads and this money will be used to invest in other local services. It is a community model which we hope will give the community ownership of the services in the area and allow them to have a big say in how services are used and how investment is distributed. The project has built up a lot of interest from other volunteer and funding services in the area and it is seen by many as something that can be pushed into other areas similar to our community. This project has now become especially important to the community with impending cuts and service reductions across the area and one of the main aims of the project is to create a stable organisation which can solve the ever growing issue of our toddler play facilities and youth services.