Meeting held to discuss future of St Mary-in-the-Castle
Representatives from various community groups met at St Mary-in-the-Castle on Monday to discuss the building's future.
Deputy mayor Peter Armstrong chaired the meeting alongside Erica Smith, from Castle Ward Forum.
The meeting attracted more than 50 residents and representatives from arts, youth and faith organisations.
A petition was signed by attendees urging council bosses to safeguard the future of St Mary-in-the-Castle.
The building has been occupied since August 2007 by Sonrise Church, which is leaving the property at the end of next month.
The council is looking at longer term uses for the building, but is keen to find short-term tenants too, and so is inviting expressions of interest initially for one year from February 1 next year.
Mrs Smith said: "Attendees agreed that the future of St Mary-in-the-Castle is the council's responsibility in partnership with the
community and local and regional organisations.
"It is unrealistic for the borough council to assume that any external organisation or business can shoulder all the costs and expertise needed to maintain a historical property that is both glorious and challenging.
"It is also short-sighted to hope that a successful bid for a much-needed youth centre in the town will be the answer for St Mary-in-the-Castle in the long term."
Representatives from various arts groups also agreed to arrange a meeting with councillors and council officers to discuss the immediate and long-term future of the venue.
Mrs Smith said: "It would not be in the interests of St Mary-in-the-Castle or the community to 'mothball' the building in the hope that a future tenant will come along.
"We would like the council to allow time to explore a community involvement in the future of St Mary-in-the-Castle, for example, as a social enterprise charged with the responsibility of managing the facility."
Cllr Matthew Beaver, lead member for the council's property interests, said: "St Mary-in-the-Castle is an amazing building, and we are looking at a number of plans for it. However, these will inevitably take a long time to develop and then put in place.
"We would like any new tenant to take over immediately Sonrise leave, so on or soon after February 1. Because of that, we are inviting expressions of interest to be returned to our Estates office by 12 noon on Tuesday December 23."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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