Issue - meetings

To consider Regent’s College in Nantwich for immediate inclusion on the List of Buildings of Local Interest.

Note: Councillor Arthur Moran (Ward Councillor) attended the meeting and spoke in respect of the application.

The Board considered a report on Regents College, Nantwich which outlined the reasons why it should be included on the List of Buildings of Local Interest.

Regents Theological College and the attached Grove House and Chapel was currently occupied by the Elim Bible College, who were due to vacated the site at the end of May 2009 and the site had been placed on the market with a view to redevelopment. 

Whilst English Heritage had decided not to include the buildings on the national register, it had concluded that the principal buildings of the Theological College, including the administrative block, Chapel and Grove House were of local interest. 

The buildings had been assessed under the former Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council’s criteria for the Local List and had been found to met the criteria for authenticity, architectural significance and historical importance as the College was a substantial three storey building in the Arts and Crafts style built in 1899, attached to which was a chapel dated 1924 in the same materials and overall style.  To the rear was a three storey Georgian building known as Grove House which was the original building on the site.  The building displayed evidence of a period of local social significance recorded in a plaque to former pupils who fell in the First World War and the Chapel contained stained glass windows which showed agricultural scenes representing a return to the land and a ‘wholesome’ way of life after the horrors of war and the creation of a ‘land fit for heroes’.

Their inclusion on the local list would enable their demolition to be resisted in any future development proposals, to potentially enable them to be converted to an appropriate alternative use incorporating only minimal changes to their original fabric and limiting any proposals for alterations to areas where changes had already taken place.

RESOLVED:

That the Theological College, Chapel and Grove House be added to the list of Buildings of Local Interest and the owners be notified of their inclusion and sent details of what this means and the buildings selected will be registered as a land charge.