Following the meeting in Bridport Town Hall on 29 June this year, Crystal Johnson has continued work on the project proposal as agreed by the meeting, and this is now virtually complete. Download a copy of the current version – please be aware if you are printing it out that it is 30 pages long.
In the meantime we have belatedly been informed by Dorset County Council that the next High Court hearing to determine the future of the building will be held on 1 September. We also understand that at the hearing they intend to press to be given permission to dispose of the building by putting it on the open market, thereby dismissing the progress we have made in the past six months.
If successful, this action of the County Council would ensure that neither the current proposal or any other community proposal for the building could succeed, because once the building is on the open market it would not be eligible for capital funding from many of the major funding bodies.
We are attempting to negotiate, on behalf of the Bridpport Area Development Trust, with the County Council, and I am seeing Oliver Letwin MP on Friday seeking his support, but if the Court hearing goes ahead on 1 September, we intend to ensure that the project proposal will be considered as part of the evidence, and hope that this will persuade the High Court to allow further time for us to move on to the project development phase. We have received a number of expressions of support, including from English Heritage and from West Dorset District Council, the Local Planning Authority, both of whom have interests in trying to secure a future for the building which preserves and protects its historic interest, as well as the community interest, as this proposal does.
Courtesy of Charles Wild
Download a copy of the current proposal
