‘Please let us stay’, is the request of local charity told by new owners to vacate their Warwick Mill home

Carl Roach, Director/Trustee The Lighthouse Project

“Please let us stay”, has been the request of Inspire Middleton, the local charity that runs the popular Lighthouse Project and Middleton Central Foodbank, to the new off-shore owners and Chinese developers of the Warwick Mill in response to their recent issue of a notice to quit.

The notice was served on the charity last month, as the owners seek to empty the property, and they now have just six months to find new premises and relocate all of their activities.

The future use of the Grade II listed mill remains a mystery as residential plans appear to have been shelved in favour of conversion into international wholesale showroom space for homeware and construction products along with a Chinese emporium, food stalls, food store, restaurants, cafes and outdoor events space and other meeting and exhibitions activities, according to a recent screening opinion submitted to the Council’s Planning Department.

Inspire Middleton founder and Trustee Carl Roach said: "No formal planning application for the scheme has yet been submitted so there is a real danger that the building could stand empty once again when the Lighthouse Project and the other tenants move out.

"Our preference would be to stay as we have invested a lot of time and money into the building of our centre and the community services and activities that we provide, but we have been told by Rob Blackwell, property director of G-Suite, the company developing the mill, that this is not possible as there is 'no space for us within the new scheme'.

“The challenge of finding a new town centre based home is no easy task as the Warwick Mill is such a good locations for us. We have grown so big that there are not many buildings available that can fit us in, we currently use over 10,200 sq.ft. of space and need a minimum of 7,000 sq.ft. to retain all that we currently provide. If you know of anywhere that may be suitable, within the town centre, then please get in touch."

The Lighthouse Project has been running from the Warwick Mill for the last five years and has seen a footfall of over 100,000 visits through its doors, helping and supporting local people in a variety of ways, from job seeking, computer skills, personal development, art and social activities to cooking and more recently textile printing, and it currently sees around 600 visits per week.

A year ago Inspire Middleton started running Middleton Central Foodbank in conjunction with several local churches which has given away nearly 13 tonnes of food to help local people in need in the last year alone.

Middleton DIAL is another long established Middleton charity based with the Lighthouse Project providing disability items, wheelchairs and walking aids for people to use on short term hire. All the projects offer vital community services on a voluntary basis.

Many local people are helped through the different strands of work and some have expressed obvious concern about the situation, but the trustees say they want to make it absolutely clear that the work will continue and that they are only moving, not closing.

The charity has been discussing its relocation needs with G-Suite Holdings Ltd, the Hong Kong based developers acting on behalf of the new off-shore owners, LED Emporium UK limited, and they have offered help, however it is likely that any new premises will cost more hence a new building fund is opening to help fund raise to meet these additional costs.

Mr Roach added: "This is clearly a time of change for us, we started our work so that we could help local people to improve their situation and to advance themselves, and we have done this for many thousands of visitors over the last five years, now it appears to be our turn to ask for support.

"If you are someone we have helped, or a friend or a family member of someone we’ve helped then you will know the value of what we do, and the support and help that we give people. In our time of challenge can you help us?

"We need help to find somewhere new to be based and help to fund our likely increased costs, and ongoing work. We are not council or government funded and we have to raise all our own money through donations, grants and gifts in kind, we are simply local people helping local people; we inspire, we plant, we encourage, we build, we welcome and support, so you achieve."