July 2020 Update.
We hope everyone is continuing to cope with this difficult period. Our thanks go out to all the community groups doing such great work in Great Baddow.
In terms of the campaign very little has changed from last month. We still have grave reservations about the long term financial viability of the centre. The “beating heart of the community” needs a pacemaker !
The Hampton’s is open for Squash and Tennis, but at much reduced hours:-
Monday to Friday 4pm-10.15pm
Saturday 10am-10.15pm
Sunday 11am-2.15pm
We are aware that about 60% of the staff are still at risk of losing their jobs, and a number are in the process of being made redundant. Whilst this good news for some 40% of the staff, in employment terms, re-employing staff on new contracts eliminates immediate costly redundancy payments whilst at the same time resetting the 'years of service' clock meaning that future redundancy payments will be greatly reduced.
There is still no application for any Change of Use to a place of worship, and the CMS continue to crowdfund to cover their spiralling debts and to fund the conversion of the largest two rooms for worship. Some decorating and work has taken place over the shutdown in the room previously used for the Buddhist meditation classes. We are a little confused about the piece in the Parish magazine which has no mention of the plans to convert part or the whole of the building to an Islamic Centre/Place Of Worship (as it says on the CMS crowdfunding pages). See if you can spot the difference.
The cafe is still not open, and the much publicised online booking system has not yet materialised. There are rumours circulating about a potential rental of space to another business, which would also need a Change of Use permission. We will continue to monitor the situation since this would decrease the available community rental space further.
The club website remains woefully out of date, and is still advertising a full bar and catering facilities (despite the fact that Roamers Caterers have had their rental agreement terminated and have left the building).
We’re keeping our team busy by doing a lot of the prep work for the Change of Use application (when it comes). Our transport assessment is being written up, and our local parking survey will start very soon. The next task will be to examine any environmental issues which could be relevant to any planning applications, and also to take some ambient noise readings around the centre and Clarion Gate development.
There is no update yet from the South Essex Parking Partneship on the application to impose parking restrictions on the access roads. When these are approved and in place, the risk of restricted access to emergency vehicles will be very much reduced.
And finally there are a few new documents and consultations from Chelmsford City council that will be relevant to our campaign, read them here.
Thank you all for your continued support.