'Redundant' chapel to become cafe and workspace
GoogleAn abandoned village chapel which has been empty for more than a decade will be brought back into use as a cafe and co-working space.
The Methodist Chapel in Tydd St Giles, Cambridgeshire, was last used in 2015, according to DND Core who have submitted a planning application to redevelop the site.
The applicant said the building would operate as a "community-focused co-working office space" as an alternative to working from home - and would have a mixed office and cafe.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, DND Core said the building had been left "in a state of decay" with "dry rot throughout the timber ground floor, which has collapsed in part".
Fenland District Council (FDC) approved plans on the conditions it would open between 08:00 and 21:00 Monday to Saturday and 08:00 and 17:00 on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Plans stated the building would also be used to host hobby groups, and would include two parking bays and eight cycle spaces.
Steve Barclay, Conservative MP for North East Cambridgeshire, said he did not "as a rule, seek to intervene in individual planning applications" but said he was "content to add [his] support to this scheme".
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Tydd St Giles Parish Council said plans were a "good use of a redundant building in the heart of the village".
Brenda Barber, Conservative councillor at FDC, said the new café and community use would be a "real asset to the village".
Four residents of the small village objected to the proposal, but a further 16 wrote letters in support of the plans.
The council's planning officer said in a report that the redevelopment "would deliver social, economic and environmental benefits through the productive reuse of a vacant building".
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