John Franks, Chair of the Trust, explains: "After many years of lacking community provision and pre-school nursery care in Petersfield, we are attempting to acquire the Chapel and Hall as an independent charitably owned community centre by a community share offer - using our ability to generate a small surplus from activities on the site.
"We are on a very tight timetable, to assemble a credible offer by March 1st when the community asset moratorium on the sale of the site expires, but are already able to assemble an offer of more than a third of the £600,000 asking price, with most of the campaign effort still beginning.
"The community support is fantastic and the City Council has taken the highly unusual step of allocating £48,600 in funding to bring the building into a usable state if we can acquire it.
"We are in active discussion with two pre-school nursery providers and a nursery will definitely be part of the mix, lack of pre-school provision being often identified as a problem in Cambridge.
"Sites like this in central Cambridge are very rare, so if we don't grab this chance, we will not only lose the dance school, toddler groups and others which previously rented this site, but also the chance to provide other facilities for the increasing number of local families and the rest of the population.
"We would of course love to find a major sponsor, but the share offer is also open to business investors and there are many other ways you could help us - with management, legal or tax involvement, equipment or even hiring the hall when the community demand is less during the daytime.
"Newer parts of Cambridge - and the whole northern half of Cambridge - have facilities like this provided by developers, but in the dense central area we have to do something much more dramatic to catch up."
Further information is available on the website, www.sturton.org including a business plan (which gives an overview of the project) and share offer details.
Contact John Franks: [email protected]
Ambitious community project seeks help from Cambridge businesses
14 January 2015
Involvement from Cambridge Network members is sought for a "ridiculously ambitious" project in central Cambridge. Petersfield Area Community Trust is looking for support from local businesses in its attempt to acquire the recently closed Sturton Street Methodist Chapel and Hall.