Wharfedale Men’s Shed (WMS) became a real ‘thing’ when, after some weeks of planning get-togethers by the embryonic committee, the first meeting of the ‘Shed’ took place in the Otley Maker Space workshop on Monday March 25th, 2019. A truly auspicious day for all concerned as the plans made became a reality!! However, almost from that day, the committee members recognised that if WMS was to thrive and prosper in the long-term, then larger, perhaps purpose-built, premises would be needed and thus began the search for a permanent home!!
Over five plus years, many possible venues were identified such as disused pubs, churches, old workshops etc. and enquiries made to their owners but disappointingly all to no avail, all stating that they had other plans for the premises. In early 2023 though, a mention was made to us that a small (ish) block of land existed on Ilkley Road, Otley which had a small building on it (an old pre-fabricated café) which appeared to be unused and somewhat derelict. It was soon identified as being part of the park owned and maintained by Leeds City Council (LCC) and so an enquiry was sent off to the council as to whether WMS could perhaps take over the old café and add an ‘extension’ which we could use as a new workshop and meeting place. Meetings were held followed by numerous e-mails, submissions of ideas, further meetings both on-site and off-site until LCC agreed ‘in principle’ that we could explore the use of the old café and a block of land to develop into a new home and we were advised to submit a Pre-Planning Application to the LCC planning authority.
There was however a cost implication!! Pre-planning applications are not cheap!! Nor are the subsequent full planning applications, survey reports, building regulations submissions etc. etc. it was clear that we needed to find some money to fund these activities. A number of members plus the committee all agreed to make loans to WMS to enable us to proceed, which allowed us to make the pre-planning submission late in 2023 and get things moving. Concurrently our Treasurer, Dave Scannell, made an application to the Wharfedale Foundation for a grant which would pay for the above submissions. In real bitter-sweet fashion, Dave sadly passed away after a very short illness but shortly after, we learned that his application had been successful and the Foundation had approved a grant of over £3,000 which would cover the above costs!
The pre-planning application although taking some time and us having questions to answer, came back with no major issues from any of the departments within LCC who examined it.
We did at this point though recognise that we didn’t have the in-house skills to design the new building and needed the input of an architect. An approach was made to the company which had designed the Scout Hut at Burley-in-Wharfedale. After considering what we were trying to achieve, the architect, Mark Hide of ‘Mark Hide Associates’, told us that he would be happy to take us on as clients but better still, given that we are such a good cause, he would do so without charge.
Mark produced a design which he submitted to us for approval. The design did not make use of the old café and he proposed that this be demolished and start from scratch as this would be a considerably cheaper option. This design became the basis of a full planning application submitted by Mark on our behalf. There were quite a number of queries and obstacles to be negotiated, mainly around the issues of ‘bio diversity’ of the site. Target dates had to be put back more than once; more reports commissioned but eventually planning consent was given for the new build!!
Below is a Plan drawing of the proposed building.
HOWEVER, the real work now has to start, primarily on fund raising! Even with the design being deemed cheaper than we would have thought, it is still a very significant amount which we have to find.
SO, watch this space for further progress reports!!
