for the community and available to all

For the Record : 1999-2007 Chapel to Hall

The Illingworth memorial is shown in front of the pulpit
and it is now on the gallery of the hall.

The building between 1999 to 2007

The Methodist Church took the decision to sell the Chapel and Chapel House without any restrictive covenants and the following chain of events ensued:

• North West Trust bought the site and buildings in 1999.
• Minor modifications were made to the Chapel so that it could be used as an extension to the existing village hall.
• The last residents of Chapel House, the Wood family, moved to the Poor’sland House which they acquired in 2000 and Chapel House was then used as a youth club.
• In April 2003 the Chapel site including Chapel House was valued by an independent valuer at £265,000 and was sold to the Slaidburn Property Trust (SPT) with financial assistance from North West Trust and a Northwest Regional Development grant of £132,500 from the Enterprising Rural Communities fund.
• Extensive consultation within the community showed the accommodation that was required for a replacement village hall as the old one was inadequate and could not be made to comply with disability legislation

Various plans were drawn up for a new village hall on the site with the following results:

• David Lea, a well known Welsh architect from the practice of Lea & Borer, produced plans for a modern, energy efficient building which some in the community felt was out of keeping with the village. David Lea’s plans were withdrawn partly because of the reaction and partly because the architect had not been given clear enough direction on land boundaries.
• A series of community meetings Chaired by the former village policeman Mr John Barber agreed a brief for the new hall and looked at ideas produced by four architects. The community finally agreed that Messrs Wales, Wales & Rawson of Skipton be invited to produce new plans based on total demolition of the Methodist buildings and a new pastiche hall. On further reflection, there was concern that these plans increased the risk of flooding to the cottages on the opposite side of the Green. The planning officers were also unhappy as they considered the plans lacked architectural merit through no fault of the architect who, as instructed, had designed a pastiche which was contrary to planning Ribble Valley's policy. In consequence these plans were also withdrawn.
• The national firm of Austin:Smith-Lord (ASL) was asked to produce further plans in conjunction with Wales, Wales and Rawson as ASL had both connections with English Heritage and negotiating skills. Their joint contemporary design was also withdrawn it required access to the building across Slaidburn Estate land.
• ASL produced yet another set of plans keeping two original facades of the Chapel and the volume of the original building. These plans, the fourth set, were approved by the planning committee in May 2005 after considerable controversy. Work started in January 2006 and was completed in May 2007.