News
Great Central Railway gets first refusal on proposed shed site.
16 February 2007
Excellent news! After two years of careful and patient negotiations with our very supportive local authority, Charnwood Borough Council, the railway has been informed it has first refusal on the proposed shed site – Loughborough’s former refuse tip (adjacent to Allsopps Lane).
The first refusal lasts for a period of three years. There isn’t a moment to lose!
What does this mean? We don’t have to have a shed open inside three years, but it paves the way for the project to proceed. Now we have to investigate the land, draw up a full and comprehensive plan, cost it, prove we can fund the project and win planning permission. Once we have shown the scheme is fully viable we can negotiate the ownership or long lease of the site. It’s a big task in three years but of course the team behind the project have been working up to this moment and are now ready to take it into the next exciting phase.
The decision by Charnwood Borough Council’s cabinet to offer the first refusal on the former tip site is a huge vote of support for the scheme. Effectively protecting the site from other development for three years it means the Loughborough Locomotive Works Project team can start approaching potential sponsors of the building and funders for the planning phase with confidence. Already the Railway Heritage Trust have committed £100,000 to the ‘bricks and mortar’ part of the plan, but we can’t use that money for the planning part – which needs to start right away!
We need your support now. Funding the drawing of detailed plans and site investigations will need no small amount of capital. We are asking you to consider a donation. Large or small, every amount helps. The ‘ringfenced’ fund – dedicated for the shed scheme - is being handled by the Great Central Railway’s supporting charity, The David Clarke Railway Trust.
Follow the fundraising link at www.llwp.org.uk to find out how to give. If you are a UK tax payer please complete a gift aid form (also available on line) and the government will increase your donation by 28% at no cost to yourself. Give a tenner – it becomes £12.80 through gift aid! Send cheques through the post to DCRT. 1 Leicester Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE 11 2AE. Alternatively you might consider a standing order?
Generous donors who give over £100 will receive an invite to opening day (subject to availability). Thanks for any support you feel able to give.
These are exciting times for a unique project. We have a chance to create a ‘home’ for our steam locos, clean up the air for the houses which have grown around our current shed, create an incredible attraction for Charnwood, and of course present a long vanished scene of a working engine shed as a legacy to the nation.
Join us in making the vision a reality.
The first refusal lasts for a period of three years. There isn’t a moment to lose!
What does this mean? We don’t have to have a shed open inside three years, but it paves the way for the project to proceed. Now we have to investigate the land, draw up a full and comprehensive plan, cost it, prove we can fund the project and win planning permission. Once we have shown the scheme is fully viable we can negotiate the ownership or long lease of the site. It’s a big task in three years but of course the team behind the project have been working up to this moment and are now ready to take it into the next exciting phase.
The decision by Charnwood Borough Council’s cabinet to offer the first refusal on the former tip site is a huge vote of support for the scheme. Effectively protecting the site from other development for three years it means the Loughborough Locomotive Works Project team can start approaching potential sponsors of the building and funders for the planning phase with confidence. Already the Railway Heritage Trust have committed £100,000 to the ‘bricks and mortar’ part of the plan, but we can’t use that money for the planning part – which needs to start right away!
We need your support now. Funding the drawing of detailed plans and site investigations will need no small amount of capital. We are asking you to consider a donation. Large or small, every amount helps. The ‘ringfenced’ fund – dedicated for the shed scheme - is being handled by the Great Central Railway’s supporting charity, The David Clarke Railway Trust.
Follow the fundraising link at www.llwp.org.uk to find out how to give. If you are a UK tax payer please complete a gift aid form (also available on line) and the government will increase your donation by 28% at no cost to yourself. Give a tenner – it becomes £12.80 through gift aid! Send cheques through the post to DCRT. 1 Leicester Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE 11 2AE. Alternatively you might consider a standing order?
Generous donors who give over £100 will receive an invite to opening day (subject to availability). Thanks for any support you feel able to give.
These are exciting times for a unique project. We have a chance to create a ‘home’ for our steam locos, clean up the air for the houses which have grown around our current shed, create an incredible attraction for Charnwood, and of course present a long vanished scene of a working engine shed as a legacy to the nation.
Join us in making the vision a reality.
16 February 2007