Salvation Army seeks planning permission for community centre in Bishop's Stortford office block
The Salvation Army wants to use its new Bishop’s Stortford office block as a community centre.
The Christian church has asked East Herts Council for planning permission to change the use of the three-storey building at Ducketts Wharf to enable a range of activities on the ground and first floors, including coffee mornings, book clubs and mother and toddler groups run by volunteers.
The organisation bought the premises in August 2021 after a year of marketing by commercial agent Coke Gearing.
“Over this 12-month period there was very little interest in the site from leaseholders," it told EHC. "In terms of the freehold of the property, there were three offers on the site alongside the Salvation Army.
“Two offers fell through and the final offer was made at the same time as the Salvation Army. The owner proceeded with the Salvation Army as they cleared their due diligence first.
"The final purchaser was seeking to relocate their office accommodation; however, from recent inquiries, it is understood they are no longer on the lookout for an office.”
The Salvation Army, which has a charity shop in South Street, said that other offices at Ducketts Wharf had been on the market for almost two years, indicating “the lack of desire for office floor space” in the area.
The international charity operates in 131 countries around the world and has 650 churches and community centres, or corps, across the UK and Republic of Ireland. It pledges to “offer practical support and services to all who need them, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation”.
The organisation, which works to address homelessness, modern slavery, poverty, addiction and offer help with debt and unemployment advice and tackling isolation, has a long history in Stortford since it was formed in 1865.
Members first arrived in the town in 1883, when local historian Paul Ailey records they were greeted “with a barrage of rotten eggs”.
On his www.stortfordhistory.co.uk website, he says: “In fact, Salvationists throughout the country were persecuted for many years, one Bishop’s Stortford member being sent to prison in Cambridge for having the audacity to preach in the open air."
The church’s co-founder, William Booth, whose mission was to minister to the physical as well as spiritual needs of people, visited the town on Tuesday July 16, 1907, arriving at 3pm.
Mr Ailey said: “No public reception was arranged, but a crowd of about 2,000 people assembled in North Street where the Salvation Army band played outside the urban district council offices and gave him a vociferous welcome. He then held a public meeting in the Congregational Chapel, Water Lane, which had been placed at his disposal.
"There he was welcomed by various vicars of the community and spoke for about an hour on the lessons of his life and his work in the army in different parts of the world. Afterwards, he resumed his journey via Newport and Saffron Walden to Cambridge.”
Mr Booth died in 1912, and the following year his grandson, Bernard Booth, was stationed in Stortford. By then the church operated from a hall in Apton Road, but when the urban district council condemned the building in 1925, new headquarters were constructed on the site costing £1,395.
By 1998 membership had fallen to five and, with straitened finances, the church moved out of the building after 74 years. Since then meetings have been held at the Markwell Pavilion, Castle Gardens, and the church has continued its outreach work, including supporting the winter night shelter at Holy Trinity Church in South Street and its annual Christmas gift collection for families in need across East Herts, supported by the Indie.
