Renovation of St John's Church
27th of October, 2023
One of the priorities on the Council’s Parish Plan is to try and bring St John’s Church on the former Whittingham hospital site back into use as some form of a community hub.
The site is owned by Homes England who have a statutory duty to ‘secure best consideration’ when they dispose of land and property. We have arranged a meeting with them to discuss their plans and to see how our plans can be considered as part of that process.
Separately,
- We have prepared the attached concept paper for how we would like to use the building
- We have had discussions with Safe Regeneration, a community organization that has been down this route, for initial advice. They have helped 10 community groups with projects like this and have offered to help us.
- We are in the process of obtaining quotes for laser scanning of the site to give us accurate dimensions and models of the building. This will enable us to explore different ideas.
As the Parish Council is limited in how it can raise funds, if things go well with Homes England, we anticipate setting up a Community Interest Company in due course.
In the meantime, if you have legal, financial, architectural, or bidding skills, or just a passion for helping bring back a magnificent building into community use, please get in touch with the Parish Clerk using the contact link and we will be in touch.