Martin Rendell, Randwick Parish councillor has raised the issue of what should be done with the Guide Hut on various occasions. This weekends' Randwick Runner he wrote a piece outlining the options.Photo: looking across to Whiteshill and Randwick woods from Uplands, Stroud
The Hut has been semi-derelict and empty for several years - the guides had to stop using it because of vandalism and ended up relocating to the Village Hall for Friday nights. Since the move the hut has further deteriorated - both District and Parish Councils have spend money trying to scure the building.
Martin is now quite rightly calling for a debate about the Hut's future. It is estimated it could cost £15 to 20,000 to secure and make the building useable. Here are some options:
- let it fall down - demolishit and return land to field - keep it secure and leave it as it is - help the Guides repair it for their use - repair it and use as a facility for youth groups of all kinds - repair it and use as an additional facility to the Village Hall (particularly during the upcoming refurbishment of the Hall) - sell it for use as a small workshop or some other use (Planning apparently have indicated a change of use to residential use would not be granted) - use as a camping barn for Cotswold Way walkers
As Martin notes any of these choices would need to be agreed by the Guide Association as owners. Also a group of people would be needed to push forward the work and to help manage the finished facility.
The Parish Council are now seeking views on this - contact them direct via the Clerk or Martin - or I can forward views if you leave a comment here.
3 comments:
Can the ownership of the site be clarified before any suggestions are made. Do the parish council have any rights over the property. Can we clarify how the property became a site for the guides. Where did the money come from initialy to build the original hut and how was it repalced. I do believe Phil Miles had something to do with it. Was the land donated to the guides or parish by ? Mr Ham I beliebve owned the farm? Is the land outside Local plan for Stroud Phil can you check this for Building. Could the hut be used in conjunction with the camp site in the woods I have heard talked about recently. As with most of these '''out of the way sites''', it comes down to the acceptable level of abuse from vandals, noise, litter and cost what are we prepared to accept in order to provide facilities for leisure.
Very useful questions - will pass on and raise when issue discussed - many thanks.
Just got this from Martin Rendell:
If anonymous would contact me I will try to answer the questions as best I can but if you can post this as a response I would appreciate it.
The Guide Association have informed us that they own the land. The Parish Council have no rights or duties towards the land, however it has the authority to support projects such as this. The history of the site is not known to me but someone such as Win Hitchman or Jackie Windo may be able to help.
The possible uses for the hut are numerous and I was hoping for ideas, obviously The Guides own the site and therefore have to be in agreement with any use and I would also hope the local residents would be agreeable to any
proposal.
As your correspondent notes the cost/benefit of any work is important but I believe that for a reasonable cost the building could be made weather tight and secure.
I have had one other response so far which supported the hut being repaired so long as a viable use could be found.
Regards,
Martin
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