Plans to bring the empty chapel back into use were widely supported by village residents
An abandoned village chapel which has been empty for years will be brought back into use as a café and co-working space.
The Methodist Chapel in Tydd St Giles first opened in 1886 but was last known to be in use in 2015, according to applicant DND Core.
They said the building had been left “in a state of decay” with “dry rot throughout the timber ground floor, which has collapsed in part”.
They submitted a planning statement to Fenland District Council setting out their plans to use the building as a “community-focused coworking office space” as an alternative to working from home.
They said it would have a mixed office and café use and host hobby groups, including arts and crafts, games and trivia, special interests, or health and wellness in the evenings.
Originally there were three parking spaces in plans, but this was reduced to two to prevent cars overhanging onto the footpath. Eight cycle parking spaces were also included.
Steve Barclay, MP for North East Cambridgeshire, said he does not “as a rule, seek to intervene in individual planning applications” but he was “content to add [his] support to this scheme”.
Tydd St Giles Parish Council unanimously approved of the plans, which they said were a “good use of a redundant building in the heart of the village”.
Councillor Brenda Barber, of Leverington and Wisbech Rural, said the new café and community use would be a “real asset to the village”.
The Conservative councillor said: “It will put an unused and deteriorating building back into use and also be a meeting place for both local people and visitors.”
Four residents of the small village objected, but a further 16 wrote letters in support of the plans – as well as one resident from Tydd St Mary, two from Newton-in-the-Isle, and one from March who voiced support.
Objectors raised concerns around the new café and working space’s proposed opening hours and increased on-street parking, noise, and pollution.
Most residents said the plans were a “brilliant idea” and a “fantastic opportunity for local residents to be able to walk and or cycle to a local business”.
One said the new use would help residents, dog walkers and hikers to “mingle and socialise, manage loneliness, reduce isolation and strengthen local connections for people of all ages”.
Another said they “strongly support” the application as the village “has no real meeting place” and “as a community this could really help people connect”.
The council’s planning officer said in their report the plans “would deliver social, economic and environmental benefits through the productive reuse of a vacant building”.
The new café and working space was granted permission to open between 8am and 9pm Monday to Saturday and 8am and 5pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
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