Message from Mr Lee Plaister

Skip to main Nick, As the current owner of The Lodge‎, I would appreciate it if you would make this a prominent post on your page. As you are aware, my wife and I made the decision over the weekend ‎to contact the Chairman of Worsley Woodlands Action Group and our local Councillors to offer them the opportunity to purchase The Lodge for the purpose of creating a community building. See below the update circular which was sent out by the Chairman to the members of Worsley Woodlands Action Group. I'd also appreciate it if you would post the contents of this circular prominently on your blog/petition. ‎My wife and I have been overwhelmed by the posts on your petition (particularly as you point out, The Lodge was for sale on the open market between December 2012 (http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36942421.html) and August 2014 and no one took any positive action to acquire it during this 21 month period), in response we feel we must make it clear that The Lodge is not under imminent threat of being demolished. The current planning application will safeguard the future of The Lodge as a building not threaten its demolition. Furthermore, as a result of the support we have seen via your blog/petition my wife and I would like confirm that we remain committed to selling The Lodge as a community asset if the council (or volunteers) have an interest. If this doesn't transpire, we further confirm that we would not contemplate demolishing The Lodge without first placing it on the open market for sale for a period in excess of 3 months. Of course, in the interests of fairness and allowing us as a family to move forward, we hope you and everyone else would respect that if we have offered The Lodge for sale to the community and offered it for sale to the public openly and no-one comes forward then we do not expect further vilification for any course of action we chose to take. --------------------------- Update on The Lodge July 25th 2016 Mr. Lee Plaister (the owner) has been in contact with me and informs me that - (a) He has no current intention of demolishing the Lodge. (b) The proposed new building would lie behind the present one, as shown on the drawings. (c) He is anxious to sell the Lodge and be rid of it. (d) He has contacted the Local Councillors with the suggestion that public money might pay for this purchase and the building used as a type of Village Hall with a useful car park. Comments It looks as if the two Planning Applications might be to aid the sale of the Lodge. There is no point whatever in the Petition to stop the demolition, as permission has been granted and cannot be reversed. It may cause upset to the owner and his family who have broken no rules or regulations by these applications. The Lodge is NOT a "Listed" Building and does NOT lie in a Conservation Area, so objections could only be heard from nearby neighbours, probably only adjoining ones of which there are none. In these circumstances there was no requirement for the Planning Authority to notify anybody, or any Group, of the application to demolish the Lodge. Public Money could not be found to buy the former Methodist Church on Barton Road, so it is most unlikely that money could be found or raised for the "Village Hall " solution. Ian --------- Finally, Worsley Woodlands Action Group do excellent work in and around the woodland and are constantly looking for new members, maybe some of the 2500+ people that took time out to post a comment here would be willing to commit some of their spare time to the upkeep of the area - http://www.visitsalford.info/worsleywoods.htm lee plaister, United Kingdom38 minutes ago Share Tweet Delete 1 View all comments COMPANY About Impact Careers Team COMMUNITY Blog Advertise Press SUPPORT Help Guides Privacy Policies CONNECT Twitter Facebook  ©2016, Change.org, Inc.Certified B Corporation