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Permalink Reply by bill gilliam on November 25, 2012 at 22:54

Hi Rowland.

The 16th of Nov has passed so I will have to e mail and ask the Barbi Residents ass. to see if there is more news.

Bill Gilliam.

Roland Jeffery said:

This is ominous news, Bill.

I was hoping that the onerous repair and asbestos requirements, together with listed status and resident opinion would mean that hostel use would come to nothing in the market testing exercise.  If the market testing fails, then there is a case for a change of use to residential.

The fact that  two organisations have expressed an interest in the market testing exercise means it may be more difficult to get a change of use.  Do you know which two organisations have asked to meet residents?

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Permalink Reply by David Graves (your Alderman) on December 3, 2012 at 23:58

I don't think that any bidder is looking at a "cheap" approach to the future use of the old YMCA building, but that said, there does seem to be "serious" interest for hostel type use, so nothing should be taken for granted as regards future use of the building. That said, the need for any use to be compatible with local resident amenity is in my view clear so anybody seeking a future use for the YMCA building will need to address residential amenity very carefully in order to have a credible bid. 

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