A small step forward on Horton Chapel

Lib Dem councillors who have been campaigning alongside local residents to get the borough council to act on the future of Horton Chapel have welcomed a decision made at a meeting of the council's Strategy & Resources Committee in November.

Postponed from their previous meeting in September, a report suggested several options for the future of the Chapel should be investigated, one of which is to hire an expert to look into the creation of a Community Development Trust (CDT). The current problem for the borough council is that there's not enough money to fully restore the Chapel without a contribution from the developers of the West Park hospital site : that development is currently delayed because of the economic climate and a developer "contribution" may never materialise.

Cllr David Buxton (Court ward) who has been liaising with local residents and community groups who want to use the Chapel, said "There's already £525,000 earmarked for restoration of the Chapel and we know this isn't enough because the building needs completely new infrastructure, e.g. heating, plumbing, electrics, etc. plus all kinds of other work. We cannot sit back and do nothing any longer and actually, what the Committee agreed to, could have been done in 2004, but at least it seems the council has acknowledged that it must make progress." Community groups who have expressed interest in using the Chapel as a venue include a local Martial Arts Centre, a Church, a School, and others. Two residents who spoke at the meeting urged the council to act.

County Cllr Colin Taylor (SW division) added "The important thing now is to move forward on the creation of a CDT. They may also need to look again at leasing, but the worst case of selling the Chapel would not just represent a failure on the part of the council, it would be seen as an embarrassing disgrace because the chapel was gifted to them along with funds to look after it on behalf of the community, to develop as a community facility. They were given around £1m for restoration and future maintenance of the building. I'm pleased that the interest on this money has been used to keep the building watertight and tidy up the boundary fence. But overall local residents are dismayed by the lack of action so far. This has certainly not been for want of trying on the part of my colleagues and myself."

Lib Dem councillors also asked that residents of the area be updated through another public meeting, as promised by the council's spokesman at the meeting organised by the Lib Dems last June. The Committee agreed to bring a progress report forward for debate at its next meeting in January 2010 and the Lib Dems suggested the council hold the promised public meeting soon afterwards, but the chairman said he would prefer to write to residents instead. Cllr Buxton said "It's all very well the Chairman saying that the council could write to every resident on Livingstone Park and the other new estates, but that option is far more expensive than holding a public meeting. It also doesn't allow any exchange of views on the part of local people, who want to be involved and have a say in what happens."