Consent for community centre extension

At the end of last week planning consent was received for this project. The application was submitted in May and it took 7 weeks for the Decision Notice to be issued without any discussion or negotiation with the local authority. Any addition to a heritage asset (Building of Townscape Merit), as this is, always represents a challenge. The speed of this decision by the local authority points to the quality of the supporting documentation.

The community centre is victim of its own success. Each week day in the morning there are between 12 to 15 staff and volunteers serving the needs of the clientele. At 10 sq metres the project is tiny but, if successful at planning, will provide much needed relief from several severe operational difficulties – it will have an impact far out of proportion to its size.

With a track record of success in resolving tricky access issues  for the Vineyard Life Church (VLC) & Vineyard Community Centre and steering them through planning (2017 and 2019), VLC commissioned Philip Kassanis to design and then make a planning application for providing a new store and staff w.c.