Share offer raises close to £100,000
Community group look to purchase chapel
We want to see this building open and back in regular use
Group spokesman
A COMMUNITY has raised almost £100,000 to help purchase a former chapel and turn it into a community centre.
Kingsley Holt chapel closed to religious services in 2019. The Kingsley Holt Centre community group immediately set about raising funds to buy the building with a view to using it as a community centre.
A share offer was launched a few weeks ago. Following its success the Kingsley Holt share offer has now been extended and will now remain open until Friday, May 6, 2022.
If the community group is successful in the purchase of the building it could be used as a community centre for all organisations plus the possibility of a shop and cafe.
A spokesman said: “At a rally held in the village last Saturday, April 23 we announced that the fund had reached £94,160.00.
“The fund continues to grow, and we are confident that we will soon break through our minimum target of £100K.
“Membership now stands at more than 100 with a further 20 plus people choosing to donate and many more offering to volunteer. This demonstrates the level of support we have and just how much our community want to see this community building open and back in regular use.
“This is a community building and its planning classification is and always has been “DI” - a building for non-residential institutional and religious use and it is not part of the local development plan. We will do everything possible to ensure it stays that way.
“We have proved by obtaining an Asset of Community Value listing with Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and publishing our business plans that it must and can remain a viable community asset.
“Support for our plans is growing, we are receiving support from our parish council and two of our district councillors, Elsie Fallows and James Aberley, who attended on Saturday to show support and present
cheques to help boost our funds. “We want our community building back, open, and continuing to serve the community. No other option is acceptable.”