At this week’s meeting of Full Council (18 February), the Leader of Rochford District Council, Councillor James Newport, included in his presentation details of the £1.5m budget to be invested in council assets, and stated his intention to see at least £500k spent on the regeneration of the Freight House if required as part of a future business case.
This follows last month’s update on the work that is already taking place, with plans due to come back to a Committee in March - to show how the building can be re-opened for an interim use over the coming months.
Next steps
The Council is committed to opening the Freight House, the Strategy, Finance and Policy committee will consider plans on how the building can be re-opened for short term uses over the coming months.
The Council has appointed the company, Ash Sakula, to conduct a longer term feasibility study which will commence next week on wider regeneration plans for the area. This will include how the Council can enhance not just the Freight House building, but also the surrounding green space and reservoir areas.
The Council is currently seeking organisations to register their interest in operating events from the Freight House, in order to evidence that the meanwhile use investment being considered would enable a third party operator to open the building and deliver events to the local community.
On the 25th March 2025, the committee will consider:
- The costs to reopen the Freight House
- The timeline of the reopening works
- The requirement to procure an operator
- The Feasibility Study timeline and next steps for wider regeneration of the building and its surrounding areas.