Charity behind failed flats looks to alternatives

The social charity behind an unsuccessful bid to convert a Hereford community centre into flats for needy families says it is now looking for “other ways to maximise the building’s local community use”.

The bid by Vennture, formerly the Hereford City Mission, would have seen the Victorian part of the former Riverside Centre in Hereford’s Vicarage Road turned into either four or five self-contained flats, depending on whether a community nursery could be made to work in part of the building.

The bid was rejected last week, primarily because it would have represented the loss of a community facility.

The charity has now said its “vision for the building to fill the gap in housing for children facing homelessness, alongside a base to expand our volunteer’s work in the wider Herefordshire community… is unchanged”.

But it added that providing a community space within the St James and Bartonsham community “is not our primary charitable purpose”.

The St James and Bartonsham Community Association earlier gave cautious support to the conversion plans, though it considered some plans for the historic interior were “immensely damaging”.

But an anonymous group of parents of children at the neighbouring St James’ Primary School submitted that Vennture’s plans “differed drastically” to what the community had earlier backed for the building, and that charges it had asked of local groups had been “prohibitive”.

Vennture now says it had previously offered use of the building during evenings and weekends “based on covering running costs, to the St James and Bartonsham Community Association”.

“The questioning of our proposals means we are now looking at other ways to maximise local community use,” it said.

The St James & Bartonsham Community Association was approached for comment.

The charity had also worked with the neighbouring St James CE Primary School on the option of using the building as a nursery for the school, but this plan was abandoned.

Its headteacher Ben Caldicott said: “Vennture and the St James’ School have a good working relationship and look forward to working together in the future.”