From last nights meeting I understand that the Council have extended their grace period to next April for the community to come up with a viable scheme. Its very nice of them and no doubt election timescales have influenced this decision however another winter lying empty will not do the property any favours so on the other hand its a shame, however no doubt the proposal to convert into housing is not going to be financially viable either at the moment.
From the presentation at the AGM it would appear that things have not been progressed very much in respect of the funding/financing issue. One can only go to so many Pilates/Yoga classes in a lifetime and there seems to be no shortage of these- the Honor Oak Tavern is even running classes at various times of the day so I am not sure how much revenue these would bring in to Louise House either with or without an arts centre appended.

I reported before that I was told from official quarters that a revenue of ?250k pa was required in order to generate the various heritage grants needed to bring the property back into use. As this was strangely challenged last night by the person who gave me the original information I am re checking the facts with other sources. To me any future vision for this property needs to be finance led or at least steered from the bottom line as otherwise great plans will just bite the dust.

It still remains my view that a community application to have this building delisted, and its historical significance maintained in other ways that reflect more appropriately the ideals of Janusz Korczak , are still the way forward if we are to have something sustainable on that site in the longer term. Thanks to those of who ( all 6 of you!) who have contacted me privately to express interest. Its not an impossible task but not an easy one either, but we can only look into it and see what happens.