Belper Civic Forum

After a period of consultation around Belper and very hard work by the Meadows Edge Sub-Group a detailed “Alternative Development Brief” was presented to forum members on 28th September.

The meeting gave members a chance to get a feel for the proposals. The aim to put forward a viable and sustainable alternative to other suggestions for the Meadows Edge site made so far - mostly by Tesco who are aiming to build a store (with associated roads and facilities) on the old Thorntons site off Derwent Street. There was plenty of enthusiasm for the brief presented by the sub-group, quite a few questions and a lively discussion.

The proposals being put forward by the forum will be made fully public at the Forum’s next open meeting on Monday 29th October at the Masonic Hall on Campbell Street in Belper from 7.30pm. There will be plenty of chances to comment on this issue that is crucial to the development of Belper.

Meanwhile, if you have any further question, queries or feedback - it’s worth looking at the “Belper At The Crossroads” leaflet for more information.

As part of the process of consulting the people of Belper about what they want to do with the Meadows Edge site off Derwent Street, we produced a leaflet called “Belper at the Crossroads”.

And now (for your convenience) we have a handy PDF formated version of it :  Belper at the Crossroad PDF

To view the file, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed - which you can get for free from here : Adobe Acrobat Reader Download Page.

The open day held at Herbert Strutt School in Belper on Saturday 8th September seems to have been quite a success with at least 90 people coming to have a look round. Belper Today gave it some good coverage and plenty of comments on the potential future of the school have been gathered.

I had a wander around and found it a really amazing building - certainly early 20th century civic architecture on a great and impressive scale! I also took a few pictures - the best of which I’ve uploaded to Flickr , but here are one or two to be going on with :

The Belper Civic Forum is concerned about the forthcoming closure of the Herbert Strutt School. The Forum believe that this very attractive listed building that was given to the town, could be re-developed in an unsympathetic way and a valuable opportunity to create a community asset would be lost.

As part of the National Heritage Open Days Scheme, the Forum arranged an open day on Saturday 8th September at Strutt School which 90 people attended.

The school was opened in 1909 and given to the town of Belper by George Herbert Strutt (1884-1928). Alan Bates, Simon Groom and Timothy Dalton were among former pupils. It’s an exceptionally attractive stone building that forms a gateway to Belper in the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.

Amber Valley Borough Council is commissioning a feasibility study on the future of the building, this must be completed by 31st March. The study will consider redevelopment for residential use but should also consider the shared commercial and community use proposed by the Forum. Various organisations have expressed an interest in acquiring or using the building for commercial purposes and the Forum has met or been in discussions with some of these. It is the intention of the Borough Council that the proceeds from the sale of the site will all go to the Herbert Strutt Charity.

The Belper Civic Forum has now formed a “Strutt School Sub-Group” to take forward its own “Herbert Strutt Community Project”. The Group was formed at an open meeting for local people who had volunteered to help. The meeting took place on February 8th. A steering group of nine people and a working group of fourteen people were set up.

The Steering Group met on February 12th in the school itself, in the rooms rented to Derwent Brass, with their kind permission. An open letter expressing the concern about the building had been sent to County and District Councillors. The Group are also preparing:

• A press release for the BBC to coincide with the closure of the school on 27th February when a procession of children will take place between the old and new school sites.
• A proposal to Amber Valley Borough Council to purchase and redevelop the building for mixed Commercial and Community use.
• A petition, the text of which is as follows, “We the undersigned care about the future of the Herbert Strutt School building and urge that it be used as a community facility for Belper.“
• The completion of a survey of potential community users.

The petition will be launched soon and will include an internet option.

Members and local people may also express their concerns by raising questions at the next Local Community Forum (see calendar).

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Tesco organised an initial event to inform the public about its ideas for developments in Belper on the Meadows Edge. This event was held on 26th and 27th July at the Nailer’s Football Club. The club is away from the town centre and not everyone would have realised the event was taking place.

The Belper Civic Forum organised an “exit poll” of the people who attended. People were asked if they were in favour of Tesco’s proposals as presented at the event. 220 people were asked of whom 196 lived in Belper and Milford. 68% were against, 20% were for and 12% were either undecided or did not answer.