An Isle of Wight Town Council has submitted its bid to retain a building that was once the heart of its community.
The deadline for bids to buy the old Yarmouth C of E Primary School building, on Mill Road, from the Isle of Wight Council has now passed and it will now be for the authority to decide which bid it would like to go with.
Vying with interest from private developers, Yarmouth Town Council (YTC) officially agreed on Tuesday (15th August) that it would throw its hat in the ring to own the site.
Speaking at the YTC meeting yesterday, Councillor Steve Cowley said Councillors believe they have a moral case for getting the site after the Leigh family originally gave the buildings to the community of Yarmouth to provide education.
Cllr Thomas Cowley said it is a regeneration project, which will try to rebalance Yarmouth and bring young families and people to help fill jobs and service roles in the town, like on the lifeboat or at the fire station.
In its masterplan, the steering group has outlined plans for 8 affordable rented houses on the playground; a boat yard academy; an exhibition and study centre in the former school buildings and a scout and guide hut.
Yarmouth Mayor, Cllr Debbie McCLeary, said when they heard the school was first being sold there was no hope it would remain for the town’s community, but looking at what the steering group was trying to achieve, it was reviving that hope.
The Town Council says the site could provide 7 to 12 full-time equivalent jobs, including 6 apprenticeships at the boat yard, learning artisan boat building.
Cllr Steve Cowley reiterated to a packed audience at the Community Hall of Yarmouth and District, these were only possibilities for the site, as they did not own it yet nor have planning permission.
If YTC’s bid is successful, it would make the money to buy the site by setting up a community benefit society and allowing those who buy in to become shareholders.
The Town Council was successful in turning the former site into an asset of community value which would allow them more time, if successful in the bidding process, to raise the money needed to purchase the school and playing fields.
The school has been empty since December last year, after pupils moved to a new facility in Freshwater.
Just out of curiosity what is a rough guide price for the bids on this.?
What will happen if YTC do not come up with the funds.? It is a lot of money for a town council to be splashing around
Hang on a minute. First, you ask how much it is and then you say it is a lot of money to be splashing around. Hmmm … methinks you are a property developer spreading disinformation. Oldest trick in the book.
Offers over £1.00
“Leigh family originally gave the buildings to the community of Yarmouth to provide education” – shame that there is no covenant requiring this use.
Covenants can be removed
Sounds menacing! Are you threatening me?
YTC = Delusional Have no chance, developers have this , wait and see .. why burden Yarmouth residents who may contribute their money, what are you guaranteeing in return ?
Sounds like a lot of money will be needed to buy the site, build the new buildings, and provide ongoing funding to subsidise their operations.
But I suppose it’s all part of the masterplan. Good luck to them.
Councils should not be spending money setting up ship building businesses. Councils should empty the bins and do the other essential stuff we are paying them to do. Anything else is a waste of money and the cause of our extortionate council tax bills.
I support YTCs forward thinking approach but question how it can work in practice. Without any real proposed commercial activity to subsidise the rest, the community is going to have to stump up a huge amount of money to buy this and then get planning and then build it. And what happens if it gets delayed or runs over budget? Are the shareholders all on the hook to cough up more or would the project get mothballed? The presentation said market sale homes shouldn’t be built here because of flood risk mitigation – so why propose affordable housing? It’s surely not acceptable to only house poorer people in flood zones and to not mitigate the risk? As I started, it’s a lovely idea and community initiatives should be supported but not this.