Happy New Year from all of us on the Mill Board of Trustees.
You may have noticed we have been very quiet over the past year, but we assure you we have been working hard in the background to define the short, medium, and longer-term objectives of The Mill Community Hub project.
We start by introducing some new members to the Board: Sian Coughlan of Middleton Parish Council and residents, Leigh Morrell, Peter Tyldesley, and Andrew Butcher. We say a huge thank you to our most recent departing board members Tony Freeman and Pete Bowman for their hard work and commitment over the years.
Post-pandemic we have seen a significant reduction in available funding pots to support the construction of new buildings. Typically, the small amount of funding that is available has tight “green” credentials within its criteria. This means that the current plans for the proposed new building would need significant tweaking and, potentially, re-submission for Planning Permission. We recognise that these factors will cause significant delays to the long-term objective of building a new structure. So the Board has been thinking hard about what would be the next best move for our community.
At this time we feel that prioritising the enhancement of the existing Villages’ facilities is the right approach. In line with our constitution, it has given us the opportunity to re-evaluate where this Board of Trustees can add value at this time to our community.
Our medium-term goal, therefore, is to support our friends on the Village Hall Management Committee (VHMC) to ensure we have a future-proof solution to the sustainability and profitability of our current community facility.
However, we are planning to build the car park element of the Mill project in the fairly near future. This will be in the field beyond the school towards Bringhurst. This will have multiple benefits such as providing parking at school drop-off and pick-up times, parking for events and meetings at the Village Hall Annex, and enabling greater use of the recreational field for sports.
For us to achieve any of our medium/long-term objectives we need to begin with some smaller initiatives.
In February we will be launching our calendar of fundraising events for 2023, we really want to gain as much village engagement and support to regain the momentum we had pre-pandemic. If you have any ideas or events, you would love to attend please drop us an email at leigh_hoppet@yahoo.co.uk.
We have created a comprehensive communications plan to ensure that we are keeping you all up to date with news, progress, and exciting changes throughout the year make sure you follow us on Facebook.
Until next month,
The Mill Board.