Agenda item

The Board will consider the Community Asset transfer of The Harnham Bunker, to The Sound Emporium, as detailed in the report attached to the agenda.

Steve Milton, Head of Communities and Governance, presented the Community Asset Transfer of The Harnham Bunker, to The Sound Emporium, for consideration by the Board as detailed in the report attached to the agenda.

The Council does not transfer land to a private organisation, so The Sound Emporium had agreed to set up a Community Interest Company, produce a business plan and raise £50,000 of funds towards this community project.

S106 Funding was available from the Rowbarrow developments in Harnham, for use in creating a community faciliity. Residents there did not however want a community hall built on the open space on the estate. Legal and Financial teams had been consulted to establish whether some of the s106 funding  (almost £306,000) could be used towards this project instead, and had been advised that it would be possible.

The Board was asked to consider the proposal and support in principle the decision to transfer the Bunker to The Sound Emporium, providing SCC agreed to the project.

Salisbury City Council (SCC)

The Board heard from Andrew Roberts, SCC had owned the bunker since the formation of SCC. The site had been derelict and useless to SCC since that time. It had been decided to take the site to auction, prior to that taking place, WC decided that they would take the building back and offer it for development for community use.

SCC would be cooperative with WC should the site be developed for community use, as they would prefer the site to be developed in this way than to sell it off.

Local Residents

Cheryl Hill read a statement out and noted that an alternative use for the building would be for the Sea Scouts to use the building as a storage facility for their kit. She felt that to use the site for music tuition was irresponsible as it would be against Health and Safety, given the nature of the underground building.

Margaret Vacha had lived along side the bunker for several years with her socially disabled sister, choosing the location for its quiet surroundings.

Paul Lord lived close to the site, he felt that the plans to turn the bunker into a practice venue for young musicians would bring 30 to 60 young people to the site on a regular basis, gathering outside. He felt that there was already a drug issue of drug selling around the disused building at present. He proposed that a unit on an industrial estate would be a much better choice for the Sound Emporium.

Sound Emporium

The Sound Emporium was a small company of ex-teachers and ex-musicians. Ross explained that they had carried out a great deal of work on how the building could be utilised correctly. Working closely with WC Building Control and an independent Health and Safety advisor to discuss the best options for Health and Safety.

It was suggested that at least one member of the local community sit on the Community Interest Company, as a representative for the local residents.

Parents of local young people who were currently using the services provided by the Sound Emporium, spoke in support of the project, giving praise to the team who worked with the young people, for their hard work in transforming Hendrix House in to an amazing place for the young people to attend.

The Board members then discussed the project, highlighting that there would be several hurdles to overcome before the project could be considered for planning permission.

Other concerns considered included whether this was the best venue for the project, and why the Community Campus could not be considered instead as it had been thought that this would be where the service moved to once Hendrix House was closed.

The Campus could not offer a dedicated space for the amount of equipment needed by the service, as several pieces of the kit would need to stay assembled on a permanent basis to reduce the amount of hours needed in preparation before and after sessions. The space requirements had become larger than had previously been estimated.

Decision

The Salisbury Area Board supports in principle the approach set out in this report, subject to the following:

·         Further discussion with SCC regarding the terms of any transfer and the arrangements involved.

·         Receipt of a business plan from TSE and confirmation that an appropriate not for profit vehicle has been established.

·         Conditions restricting hours and days of use to minimise any impact on neighbouring properties.

·         Conditions facilitating wider community use of the building.

·         Submission of a planning application by TSE for the works and change of use proposed.

·         Confirmation that a S106 contribution of c£100k may be allocated to support the project.

·         Further consideration of how the remaining S106 contributions may be applied for the benefit of the Rowbarrow estate and East Harnham residents.

It was noted that Councillors Clewer and Douglas voted against the proposal.