Chesham House: Options to be explored to save Lancing community hub

In February, the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) announced plans to sell the Chesham House Community Centre in South Street — a charity which dates back to the 1950s.

After the decision was met with anger and sadness, RVS made a quick U-turn, suspending proceedings towards the sale of the building. The charity said it planned to 'meet and engage' with the local authority and other community leaders to 'look at all the future options and ideas that they are putting forward'.

Discussions with community leaders have continued and the charity now has a three-month action plan in place 'during which time options will be explored'.

Sam Ward, deputy CEO of Royal Voluntary Service said: “We have seen the huge passion the community has for Chesham House and we will spend the next three months working hard to explore in detail a range of ideas – we are pleased that local leaders have said they are keen to support us with this.

"Unfortunately, our charity’s finances are under pressure because Covid forced our income-generating retail services to close. This means we can no longer subsidise the centre. However, we will do everything we can to try to find the best outcome in these challenging times.

“We have already had a positive meeting with local councillors to discuss the financial challenges associated with Chesham House and to explore solutions."

Ms Ward said 'this was just the start of the process' and will be followed by a meeting with staff and volunteers to 'explain our plan and hear their ideas'.

She added: "It’s important that we work quickly to avoid extending the uncertainty and we aim to complete our review by the end of June.”

Chesham House has been described as an 'intrinsic part of the community' with more than 80 volunteers and hundreds of clients.

It offers a safe place for members of the community to meet up and take part in social activities, whilst enjoying homemade treats made by volunteers in the Vintage Tea Room.

A campaign to keep the centre open was supported by East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton and Adur district councillors.

Mr Loughton said he organised the recent meeting with senior management of the RVS.

He said: "Overall, we had a very positive meeting and agreed on further action based on suggestions we made which would involve keeping Chesham House open for a ‘breathing space’ period at least whilst more sustainable options are investigated.

"The RVS representatives stated at the offset that they were committed to achieving a ‘mutually agreeable solution’ and acknowledged that they should have come to speak to us and the local community earlier before announcing their intention to close."

Mr Loughton said discussions were also held over a 'number of additional activities' that could take place at Chesham House, making it 'busier and more viable'.

"There have since been offers of help if the building could be used for welcoming Ukrainian refugees locally too," he said.

"We stressed that if worst came to the worst and the centre did close permanently then it is essential that an alternative home could be found to carry on the popular and much needed services and activities which operate out of there.

"I therefore put forward the following suggestion that whilst all the options for making Chesham House viable are considered there should be a ‘breathing space’ period of up to a year when the centre could reopen and start getting people through the door again, possibly on a limited basis initially, and focussed on reopening the café."