The major regeneration of church in town into a cafe, community garden and holiday lets set for approval
The 140-year-old building is set for a new lease of life, while retaining its primary use as a church
COUNCILLORS look set to wave through for a £6.4 million regeneration of Ashbourne’s historic methodist church, paving the way for new holiday lets, a cafe and community garden.
The Grade Ii-listed church, on the corner of Church Street and Station Road, is set for a major overhaul after 140 years in the town.
Church leaders say the cluster of buildings currently have “challenging maintenance and heating issues” and an “awkward and convoluted” “rabbit warren” setup, but a project backed by the town’s successful Levelling-up funding bid is set to change that.
This significant regeneration is set to be approved by Derbyshire Dales District Council at a meeting on Tuesday, December 12, with planning officials recommending approval.
An original plan for the site had included building new housing in the grounds, to help pay for works to the church itself, and its surrounding buildings, but this has been replaced by the community garden now that government support has been provided.
The scheme will also include the re-roofing of the Grade-ii listed church.
The church’s application aims to build a “link” extension between existing buildings on the site, a singlestorey extension to Chapel House, a two-storey extension for the garden entrance and a single-storey extension to hostel-style and family accommodation provided on-site in the gateway - up to 10 rooms.
A new community hub would be created along with a community garden and ramped access into the church.
Chapel House would be converted into two apartments, to add to the hostel accommodation.
The application detailed: “The scheme is a high-quality proposal that will provide significant community benefits; offering wider scope for community use and increasing tourism/visitor opportunities within the centre of Ashbourne.
“Furthermore, the proposals will positively contribute to both the immediate and surrounding context, providing a well-designed built form of which both function and aesthetic will increase the vitality of the area.”
District council planning officers, recommending approval, wrote: “This proposal represents the aspirations of the methodist church to retain and utilise all the buildings within the site with a view to the future provision of a flexible community building for the use of both by the Church and the residents of Ashbourne.
“The harm to the significance of the listed buildings and harm of the scheme to the character and appearance of the conservation area have been assessed in detail and on balance it is considered that the less than substantial harm identified is outweighed by the very clear and substantial public benefits of the scheme.”