Middleton charity desperate for new premises

Inspire Middleton, the charity that runs The Lighthouse Project and Middleton Central Foodbank

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Inspire Middleton, the charity that runs The Lighthouse Project and Middleton Central Foodbank, is desperate to find new premises before they have to vacate their current home at Warwick Mill to make way for redevelopment plans.

It was announced last week that a £50million redevelopment project to turn Warwick Mill into a ‘global trade hub with restaurants and cafes’ has been given the go ahead by Rochdale Borough Council.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/1/business-news/99788/middleton-mill-to-become-a-%C2%A350m-global-trade-hub

However, Inspire Middleton, which currently occupies space in the mill, is struggling to find new and suitable premises to continue their work.

Carl Roach, Inspire Middleton Founder and Trustee, said: “Whilst we support this investment there is also a story not being told of the challenge that we, as tenants of the mill, are facing in trying to find a suitable alternative and affordable town centre location for us to carry on our valuable community work

“We are not opposed to the redevelopment and wish the new owners well, however this is coming at a cost for us and it may have a significant impact upon the future of our work. We are not council or government funded and over the last five years we have raised and invested our own money to convert our space in the mill so that we could provide valuable community services for the people of Middleton.

“Since June 2010 we have seen over 120,000 visitors through the doors of the Lighthouse Project to use our services and activities, or to use Middleton Central Foodbank or to loan a wheelchair or walking aids from Middleton Dial.”

Since being served notice to leave the site, the charity has looked extensively for a suitable alternative, but is struggling to find a location that:

• Is located in the town centre.
• Is big enough – the charity needs 7,000-10,000 sq. ft.
• Is affordable.

The charity believes that location is key to the accessibility of its work, which is why it was originally set up in the town centre. To move to a more inaccessible location would be detrimental to the impact the charity is able to make.

Mr Roach added: “With the proposed demolition of London House as part of the Warwick development this is further reducing the availability of suitably sized space in the town centre.

“We have had one potential property in mind, which would be ideal and it is available to move into straight away because it is vacant, however this is currently proving unaffordable because it is 350% more expensive than we currently pay, and it is now just two months until we will be required to vacate the Mill.

"The challenge is on to secure our work, in fact we are probably in need of a miracle solution, or sizeable donation to help us.

“We have had a lot of support from the community, and many positive comments about our work through our online petition of support, which we promoted in the news a few months ago, and a summary of over 250 comments were received. 

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/97757/sign-the-inspire-middleton-and-lighthouse-project-petition

“The owners of the mill have been supportive towards us too and we appreciate this, but taking a seasonal analogy it almost feels like 'there is no room at the inn' for us to be able to continue serving the Middleton public without having to move to an unsuitable place, or unless we break up our activities into smaller disconnected parts which we don't want to do.”

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/97640/%E2%80%98please-let-us-stay%E2%80%99-is-the-request-of-local-charity-told-by-new-owners-to-vacate-their-warwick-mill-home

It is understood that Rochdale Council has been approached to help with the situation.