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TEVERSAL GRANGE SET FOR DEMOLITION? - Updated

TEVERSAL GRANGE SET FOR DEMOLITION? - Updated

Keith Parnill7 Jul 2014 - 21:11
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The village of Teversal is set to lose one of its best known buildings if Councillors vote to demolish of Teversal Grange Country Inn on Wednesday 9th

An extraordinary meeting of Ashfield district Council Charities Committee has been recommended to approve the demolition of the former club and restaurant which has remained boarded up after previous occupants left it with significant debts.
The move has caused controversy, with a councillor launching an online petition to save the building, saying not enough has been done to explore new uses for it.
The demolition would include a temporary building to include changing facilities, showers and a tea room to accommodate the cricket club.
The report to the committee says a suitable trustee for the building has not been found and mothballing it will cost the authority more than £35,000 a year.
A report to Ashfield District Council Extraordinary Charities Committee said the Grange had deteriorated so much it would need significant investment to bring it back into its previous use.
The eventual aim is to provide the facilities permanently in a new structure depending on the level of external funding which can be achieved.
The charities commission will support 30-year leases for the cricket, football and bowls clubs and the visitor centre, which would be needed for them to submit future funding bids.
The sports clubs have welcomed the proposal. Pete Cockerill, Chair of Teversal Football Club said “We are delighted that with our lease we will be able to take the site forward into the future.”
Together with Barry Chambers, Secretary of Teversal Bowls Club, he released a joint statement saying “although we are sad to see that the Grange will be demolished, we recognise that in the present difficult economic climate, it would be unreasonable for Council Tax payers to spend large sums of money to restore the building. We are delighted with this development and believe that working together, we can bid for crucial funds to develop new community sports facilities in Teversal.”
Councillor Jim Aspinall, Portfolio Holder for Prosperity, who took up the case on behalf of the clubs said: ”Although the proposals still have to be formally approved I am delighted that the clubs and the hard working volunteers, who are all passionate about the site, will now be able to develop new facilities for their clubs, with the funding they will be able to call on from the Football Foundation and Sport England.”
However Coun Jason Zadrozny has mounted a campaign to save the building with an online petition.
Coun Zadrozny said: “The tendering process was started about a year ago and there were more than ten different applicants expressing an interest.
“Teversal FC told me they had submitted a bid. The council say nobody can possibly take it on and nobody is interested. But I think potential people can be frightened by the prospect of business rates. The council could choose not to charge business rates if a charity takes it over or rent for a period. As long as overheads are covered, to give it a fighting chance. The process went on behind closed doors and they did not show the councillors the tenders. They have to at least try before they put the wrecking ball through it. When it is bulldozed the council will never have the money to rebuild it. I think they owe it to the people of Sutton not to write it off straight away.”
See the petition at http://www.petitions24.com/save_teversal_grange_from_demolition

UPDATE (...from Chad website)

Teversal Grange Country Inn is likely to be demolished, with local sports teams receiving trustee status to help their development. We asked them and local community groups for their reaction on the move by Ashfield District council.
Phil Hauton Chair of the Teversal Cricket Club said: “In my layman’s opinion it would be uneconomical to repair and re-occupy the Grange building due to the inherent high running costs of rates, heating, lighting etc. ADC’s offer of providing temporary accommodation for the Cricket Club in the short term and the provision of a lease combined with assistance with applying for funding for a more permanent solution in the immediate future is something we welcome.
“We sincerely hope that this solution will be one which secures the future of our club into our 100 year anniversary in 2022 and well beyond that.”
In a joint statement, Pete Cockerill, Chair of Teversal Football Club and Barry Chambers, Secretary of Teversal Bowls Club, said: “Although we are sad to see that the Grange will be demolished, we recognise that in the present difficult economic climate, it would be unreasonable for Council Tax payers to spend large sums of money to restore the building.
“We are delighted with this development and believe that working together, we can bid for crucial funds to develop new community sports facilities in Teversal.”
Pete Cockerill added: “We are down there every day and we want the site to work.
“If we can get leases I think we can get funding to get things going.
“Teversal Football Club put in a bid to run the Grange for the side two years ago but because we were not trustees we wouldn’t have got the business rate reduction we needed.
“This is a beautiful place and a nice building but it has been let go to rack and ruin. It will need £150,000 to put it right. Sports clubs don’t have that kind of money.
“I think all the sports clubs are sad to see it go but we might be able to go forward in using funding bodies to get purpose built facilities for what we need.”
Richard Goad , Chair of Friends of Teversal added: “It seems rather premature to demolish it when alternatives seem to have not been investigated. I understand a lot of people were interested in finding an alternative use for the building. Maybe demolition will be the right thing but not before the alternatives have been investigated.
“If it is a non-starter for it to become a hotel or pub, maybe it could become a sports hall or a sports outlet. It is there for the taking if there is the right idea for investment.”
Chair of Stanton Hill and Teversal Community Association, Steve Needham said: “It has been there so long so many people have used it over the years. It is a shame a building like that is to be pulled down.
“I understand there is no money for refurbishment but I am sure there will be some people interested who can take it over - we are only a small group.”
On Facebook, Christopher Slack wrote: “While a lot of people will reminisce about the grange we have to look practically at this. It is a building that will cost quite a bit to run. The last two owners could not make it work so I don’t think it can be run as a pub/restaurant again. As a member of the football club if it is going to be knocked down then ideally a purpose built sports hall would be ideal in its place to meet the charitable needs of the site which is to provide sporting facilities to the surrounding areas.
This may take time as getting grant funding takes time and effort. ADC have made a b***s up of managing the site, yes, but let’s look forward now, they do not have the money to either put the grange right or to build a building in its place. Hopefully though if grant funding can be obtained then the whole site can move forward and maybe even create the best sporting facility site for miles around!”

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