Sent to MoJ 28th
Nov.
We, the Save
Fenton Town Hall Campaign, an association of concerned residents, custodians,
relatives of Fenton's commemorated heroes, local developers and businesses,
including Urban Vision North Staffordshire
and Fenton Community Association, would like to announce and confirm that
we are submitting a proposal, with a firm offer of a
Capital Receipt to the Ministry of Justice, before the end of this
week
Yesterday, we stated that the sustainable
VISION, presented in the Community Asset Proposal submitted by Urban Vision
North Staffordshire, Fenton Community Association and the above groups to the
Ministry, for Fenton Town Hall represents a massive opportunity for the
community to bring value back to residents' quality of life and that while we
understood the Ministry has a need to provide "best value for the
taxpayer" in terms of a capital receipt, we affirmed your acknowledgement that the
qualitative nature of "value" to the local community a vibrant community venue can bring must not be dismissed without
serious consideration.
As you may
know, Fenton is a town on the list of the 100 most deprived wards in
England, as recognised by this government. Indeed, over the last four years it
has received special attention because of this through the Community Development
Foundation, which allocates funds at a grass roots level to those communities
most in need. Fenton doesn't have a bank, library, nor many of the familiar
facilities you would expect in a town populated by 17,000 inhabitants. yet
the activities taking place
here are already injecting value back
into the community and economy. This can be evidenced by the Youtube video
interviews, which we'll send to you on a regular basis, demonstrating on a
personal level the extent to which community activities at Fenton Town Hall are
helping to improve quality of life and raise aspirations across the city. Please
find the first of a series attached to this email. Arthur's Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
As mentioned, many people THE WORLD OVER feel dismayed about the future of the First World War memorial, in particular, for while some accept a covenant can minimise the likelihood of the destruction of the First World War memorial (not eliminate) many thousands of petitioners would like the Ministry's views on Restrictive Covenant Indemnity Insurance and how they would respond should a buyer seek to restrict access to the public. Again, it has to be stated that the safest place for the memorials and the only way to guarantee open, unhindered access to them is for Fenton Town Hall to come back to the community. What is the Ministry's view on this? Is a condition to be built into the sale guaranteeing free and inclusive access to the WW1 memorial? At present the community have received no assurances about this. It should also be stated that according to the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society the Great War Memorial in the Town Hall is the ONLY known Minton tiled First World War Memorial plaque in the WORLD. The community and thousands of others around the world argue selling a priceless architectural jewel such as this into private hands is too big a risk, desecration of war dead aside.
As mentioned, many people THE WORLD OVER feel dismayed about the future of the First World War memorial, in particular, for while some accept a covenant can minimise the likelihood of the destruction of the First World War memorial (not eliminate) many thousands of petitioners would like the Ministry's views on Restrictive Covenant Indemnity Insurance and how they would respond should a buyer seek to restrict access to the public. Again, it has to be stated that the safest place for the memorials and the only way to guarantee open, unhindered access to them is for Fenton Town Hall to come back to the community. What is the Ministry's view on this? Is a condition to be built into the sale guaranteeing free and inclusive access to the WW1 memorial? At present the community have received no assurances about this. It should also be stated that according to the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society the Great War Memorial in the Town Hall is the ONLY known Minton tiled First World War Memorial plaque in the WORLD. The community and thousands of others around the world argue selling a priceless architectural jewel such as this into private hands is too big a risk, desecration of war dead aside.
As mentioned previously there are many
supporters of the cause to bring back the building to the community of Fenton
including nationally Stephen Fry, Ben Elton, Rory Bremner, Ian Hislop, Jeremy Paxman, and more locally,
Peter Coates and Gordon Banks OBE. Here attached
is an image taken from the local press showing Gordon Banks lending his full
weight to this campaign
A large alliance of many groups and agencies is already building to save this Historic building for community use. A full programme of workshops and events, illustarting the worth of this facility to the region will be forwarded to you shortly. As you know, we already have significant support locally from the Police, the local MP Rob Flello, the Victorian Society, Stoke City old boys football club, Military Association North staffs, local businesses, shops and pubs in the area.
We look forward to your reply, hoping that we can continue this dialogue and reasoned negotiation in the same cordial manner in which it started. There is intense media interest in this case and we hope can all co-operate and work together toward a successful conclusion, with a positive outcome for the local area alliance and the MOJ.
Yours sincerely
A large alliance of many groups and agencies is already building to save this Historic building for community use. A full programme of workshops and events, illustarting the worth of this facility to the region will be forwarded to you shortly. As you know, we already have significant support locally from the Police, the local MP Rob Flello, the Victorian Society, Stoke City old boys football club, Military Association North staffs, local businesses, shops and pubs in the area.
We look forward to your reply, hoping that we can continue this dialogue and reasoned negotiation in the same cordial manner in which it started. There is intense media interest in this case and we hope can all co-operate and work together toward a successful conclusion, with a positive outcome for the local area alliance and the MOJ.
Yours sincerely
Save Fenton Town
Hall Campaign.
==============================
Caption for
image:
Stirring words from David Cameron about how we
should remember a whole generation of war heroes. But, concerning Fenton, from
Mr Vara an admission that there are no assurances, no guarantees. And while
there may be rogue developers and rogue occupiers I'm sure Mr Vara will accept
the community will have only the best of intentions for Fenton's Town Hall and
First World War memorial. https://www.change.org/p/stop-
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