Your letters Page 4,5,6,7 News from Stotfold Mill

News from Stotfold Watermill

THANK YOU, JOHN….But the mill is under threat!

I hope you all enjoyed the opportunity to read John Hyde’s article in last month’s edition of Stotfold News. It was a fascinating history of the mill and account of the work of the volunteers to rebuild it after the devastating fire in 1992. In particular John described how his building company carried out the restoration after being awarded the contract 20 years ago last month. Thank you John for the article and for your magnificent work in bringing the mill back to life.

Stotfold and Bedfordshire Is truly fortunate to have this outstanding building of special architectural and historical interest as a piece of our heritage, available for visitors to see the ancient watermill in action producing traditional stoneground flour, as well as our display of rural life artifacts. The object is to provide for the enjoyment and education of future generations.

It is now of immense concern that the future of Stotfold mill is seriously threatened. In order to maintain the mill requires in excess of £30,000 per annum. This has largely been raised by our two annual major events in May and October which have attracted hundreds of visitors, not just locally but from far afield. Unfortunately, the Covid lockdown has meant both our events last year and the Steam Fair and Country Show in May have had to be cancelled resulting in a major depletion of the Trust’s funds. However, we are now faced with potentially an even greater and more permanent threat to the future existence of the mill.

A Planning in Principle application for 9 houses on Mill Lane between the Cemetery and the Stotfold Nature Reserve has been submitted to Central Beds Council. We are sure Stotfold residents can see countless reasons why approval of this application would be totally undesirable. It might be thought that this could point to possible further expansion of the town out to the A1, or an increased traffic hazard, undoubtedly in conflict with the Council for the Protection of Rural England’s Quiet Lanes Scheme, etcetera. The fact that the proposal includes land for the extension of the Cemetery should not be a factor as the landowners could sell the land to the Town Council as a separate issue. From the mill’s point of view the application for house building, if approved, would undoubtedly rule out holding future major events and as explained cut off the essential source of income and end the future of the mill. The application number is CB/21/02918/PIP and the consultation period expires on the 27th July, which means that by the time you read this it could be too late to submit an opinion against. As this is only a request for planning in principle, if CBC unwisely approve it, a future detailed application could presumably follow when objections could be submitted, so please watch for future developments. On the slightly brighter side for the time being at least, we are still hoping that the mill will have opened to the public again on Sunday 25th July and that we will see many of the community coming along to support us and, of course, to enjoy a delicious cream tea. We are also planning to hold our Working Steam Weekend on 9th/10th October, preceded by Live at the Mill on Friday evening, 8th Oct.

Look out for more publicity and more information about these events in next month’s issue and on our website or social media pages.

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