A vision for
Ryelands House and The Old Man’s Rest, Ryelands Park, Lancaster LA1 2LN
May 2025 (v.4)
Author – Simon Gershon on behalf of the North Lancashire Community Land Trust. Drawing on the 'Our Place' vision prepared by Morecambe Bay Food Bank and Citizens Advice North Lancashire in 2020, and the Ethical Small Traders' Association principles
Contact details for the author: e: [email protected], t: 01524 542742
Index
Executive Summary
Ryelands House is a grade II listed building in the centre of Ryelands Park, Lancaster. It has been empty since September 2023, and is in a poor state of repair. The adjacent Old Man's Rest building is in a better but broadly similar condition. This proposal details a financially robust scheme to renovate and upgrade the buildings. They will then provide, for the benefit of the community:
A new charity will be established, which will apply for the necessary grants (estimated to total £3.6M). Once obtained, the charity will deliver the grant-funded refurbishment scheme and operate the centre.
The centre will be operationally self-sufficient in financial terms. The anticipated surplus revenue will enable a 'sinking fund' to be established, to pay for major repairs in the future, and for the charity to build up a reserves fund, to enable it to continue operating during challenging times.
A brief history
Ryelands House was built in 1836 as a private residence. It was bought by James Williamson II (later becoming Lord Ashton) in 1874 who extended the building in 1883, adding the tower and a separate stables block (Old Man’s Rest) on the north side. Ownership of the building and surrounding land transferred to the City Council after the death of Lord Ashton in 1930, and the grounds of the house became Ryelands Park.
Ryelands House was assigned Grade II listed status in 1970. The building has had various uses in the last ninety years, including accommodating the Auxiliary Fire Service during World War II. For the last twenty years or so, the building has been occupied by the NHS who ran various services from there. They vacated the building in Sept. 2023 and it has been boarded up since then.
The Old Man’s Rest currently accommodates sports changing rooms and a store room used by Lancashire County Council. The first floor rooms were used as a public library during WWII, and have had occasional use since then. There are also rooms on the ground floor which were used by Nippers Children’s Nursery for eight years, but have been vacant since 2022.
The condition of the buildings
Ryelands House is in a sub-standard state of repair, as detailed in a condition report prepared by Ridge Associates earlier this year, and summarised here in Appendix 10. The report details the need to spend approximately £250,000 on urgent and essential repairs within the next two years, with a further £600,000 being required for repairs and routine maintenance within ten years. More money than this may in fact be required, as the surveyor did not investigate the roof space, where water has been penetrating for several years. Roof and also suspended floor timbers may therefore need work. Additionally, some settlement at foundation level is evident, which needs further investigation and possibly remedial work.
These costs would only bring the building back to a water-tight shell with reasonable internal decoration. We would only want to proceed with a scheme for the building if it could be brought up to an appropriate standard for the 21st Century. This would include the improvements to access and toilet facilities, internal wall insulation, secondary glazing, a ground or air-source heat pump, and PV solar panels. Additional fire protection would be installed, to improve detection and slow the spread of any fire. Depending on the occupancy, rooms will need fitting-out with appropriate equipment and finishes to a high standard.
The Old Man’s Rest is in a better state of repair, but suffers from both rising and penetrating water ingress. The sports changing rooms are quite dilapidated, as are the adjacent toilets.
Options for development
1. Physical constraints
Ryelands House was built as a private residence, with entertaining facilities comprising a large kitchen (47 m2) and two large adjacent rooms (67 & 72 m2). There is also a large room (72 m2) on the first floor. We would want to avoid making structural alterations as far as possible, due to cost and listed building considerations. The remaining rooms on the ground floor are generally a good size 20-30 m2, together with a number of small store rooms. On the first floor, the rooms are somewhat smaller, presumably being originally designed as bedrooms. Our proposal takes account of the rooms layout, although we have not yet produced final layout plans. Some internal walls are in fact later addition partitions, which could be easily removed.
It would be technically feasible to convert the first floor to five or six self-contained flats, using a common entrance on the north side. While these flats would command impressive views, this is not our preferred option, for two reasons: a) The flats would only benefit the occupants, and not the wider community; b) Grant funding is unlikely to be given for this conversion to residential. Even if it was for affordable housing, the high cost of this compared to other locations would be unattractive to funders. And there would not be a sufficient return from private rents to justify effecting the conversion on a purely commercial basis.
The site has no dedicated parking or outdoor space, and this is likely to be off-putting to commercial developers. Although a park setting should be an attractive location for a hotel or conference centre, the location north of the river would, we believe, similarly detract from its commercial viability. When the dilapidated state of the building together with its listed status are additionally factored in, we think that any private developer will need a significant financial incentive to take it onto their books. Of course, the City Council might try and sell the building freehold on the open market, and we note with concern, that Ryelands House is currently advertised with Eckersley Property, as being available for sale or to rent.
We believe that any purchase or lease to a private company would be unlikely to serve the needs of local residents in Skerton and Ryelands, and it would be a great shame if this happened without first having had the opportunity to deliver a community-led scheme for Ryelands House.
Regarding The Old Man's Rest, Lancashire County Council have a lease on a central part of the ground floor, which they do not want to surrender. Although in a poor sate of repair, the sports changing rooms are used by football teams and we will continue to provide this facility. Nippers Children’s Nursery would like to return to their former rented premises once its damp problems are rectified.
2. Political constraints
About 1km further north is Skerton Community Centre, which is of average size, having one main room, two smaller adjoining spaces, plus a staff office and small kitchen. It has a 'traditional' financial model, relying primarily on grant income to deliver its services. Activities there include evening fitness sessions with the space let to a commercial operator, youth clubs for under 14's, a food club, craft sessions and social lunch clubs. They also have a small garden with edible plants.
As well as this existing community centre, the Ryelands Residents' Community Group aspires to develop a community building on Ryelands Estate; this is their third priority after the renovation of their play park and the creation of an Astroturf football pitch. Additionally, we have been advised that a community space may be created to serve Mainway residents when the former secondary school site is redeveloped for housing.
As with play parks, there is the dilemma of whether it is better to have several small ones with few facilities each, having the attraction of very close geographical proximity, or to have a smaller number of better equipped ones. This is a strategic decision for policy-makers. It would be quite possible for Ryelands House to become the biggest and perhaps best Community Centre in the district. With the cost of a centre manager spread across more activities, and far more on offer at any one time, we believe that such a centre would be socially and financially viable.
However, it would be difficult to see Ryelands House as a traditional-style community centre co-existing with three other centres nearby. It would be more difficult for the Ryelands Resident Group to attract funding to build their place on Ryelands Estate, and the existing Skerton Community Centre would likely suffer a drop in attendance. While we would be willing to develop a scheme for Ryelands House to become such a centre, we would need to first establish that local residents and their ward councillors were, on balance, in favour of it.
Creating a vision
Although we want Ryelands House to offer a wide range of services to local residents, we do not want to compete with nearby community centres, both current and planned. Rather, we want the activities and services offered in Ryelands House to complement them. For example, The cafe will have a large kitchen that can be used by other groups at times when it is not operating.
We believe that any scheme for Ryelands House should bring it up to 21st Century standards of energy efficiency and renewable energy generation, to reduce its environmental footprint and demonstrate what can be done with a historic building. This will improve user comfort and reduce its running costs, adding to its financial sustainability.
We also believe strongly that the centre should be financially self-sufficient, without requiring grant funding to be viable, once the capital costs of its refurbishment has been covered. Very few community centres are able to do this, which results in their having to continually chase grant funding to cover revenue costs, and compete with each other for access to funds. However, Halton Mill and the Gregson Centre in Lancaster are largely self-sufficient financially
Any provision must be predicated on some core values:
Developing a scheme
As a result of the feedback received, and our own deliberations.,we have come up with this draft vision for Ryelands House. We are aware that the intended activities will be modified once further consultation is undertaken, but we hope that the overarching plan will accommodate this. We are well aware that realisation of any vision will very much depend on attracting sufficient grant funding; identifying potential funders will be the next stage in developing the project. We believe however, that the order in which we are developing the project is the right one, i.e. to first identify the needs and desires of the local community, and then work back to see what will be required of the project in order to deliver these benefits.
Services offered
Here is our current list of services we anticipate being available at Ryelands House, integrated and working in partnership to improve outcomes and resiliency for local residents:
Advice and related help
Our intention is to create an over-arching theme, developing a 'brand image' so that people will know that good things happen here and are worth checking out.
Our proposed offering is currently as follows:
Why here?
The immediate area contains much dense social housing and very few community buildings. Numerous local hospitality businesses that afforded places for people to meet have closed in the past 20 years, including local public houses and cafes. Alongside this, the local community has been particularly hit by the ‘Cost of Living Crisis'. There are three Food Club in the area1, which supply over 500 people weekly.
Surrounding Ryelands park are some of the most deprived areas in the district. Mainway, Skerton East and West, and Hare Runs, are all ranked in the top 10% of the 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). Skerton West area includes Ryelands Estate which is one of the most deprived in the UK, especially in Household Income (rank 55 out of 32,833) and in Income Depravation Affecting Children (rank 52)2
Although The Good Place will be of most value to nearby residents, we expect it to attract users from a much wider catchment. As with Williamson Park, the inclusion of a cafe (with toilets!) will make Ryelands Park a more popular destination. People will have more reasons to come and linger, combining multiple activities when they visit. The well-equipped play park, adjacent Nippers Nursery and Children & Family Wellbeing Services, will mean that it will be especially attractive to families. We will provide upgraded changing facilities for users of the football pitches in the park. There will be an additional changing facility for disabled users, and we hope to provide a 'Changing Places' toilet.
Governance of the project
Our plan is premised on the grant of a very long lease at a peppercorn rent. This would give the local authority the ability to take back the property if it was not being managed appropriately, and would give them ultimate control over the activities allowed there. Alternatively, asset transfer of the freehold from Lancaster City Council is an option.
A new Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) will be registered to take the lease (or freehold title). It will be responsible for maintaining the building fabric, including the creation of a 'sinking fund' to pay for major costs as they arose. It will also pay for buildings insurance and maintenance of fire detection and security systems, and fixed service items such as pipes, wires and heating equipment. The CIO will also manage the operational side of Ryelands House. This will include supply of utilities: broadband, water, drainage, space heating and electricity It will employ staff as required; this will include a resident caretaker and administrative staff.
The Community Cafe will be run as a 'profit centre', with its own costs and expenses. It may be that a linked trading company will be needed, with its own accounts, gifting its net profit to the charity. This is how the Gregson Centre is run. However, by using and training volunteers in the cafe, and delivering additional food-related services, we hope to deliver some of the Charity's Objects through the cafe, avoiding the administrative costs of a second legal entity.
It is possible that solar panels and ground/air source heat pumps will be supplied by Morecambe Bay Community Renewables Ltd, and the CIC will buy some of its heat and electricity from this community-owned supplier. This will give local people the opportunity to invest financially through a community share offer.
Before a Lease is granted to The Ryelands House Community Trust, the North Lancashire Community Land Trust (established 2012 and regulated by the FCA) plans to take over the buildings under Licence agreements. and install 'Meanwhile Use' tenants, until such time that grants are obtained and refurbishment can start. Two organisations are keen to occupy the Ground Floor of Ryelands House on this basis, and would like to be open for business by September 1st this year.
At this initial stage, the project is being developed by a Project Working Group (which is not a constituted organisation). In addition to the board members of the North Lancashire Community Land Trust, the working group will invite representation from the Friends of Ryelands Park and local residents from Ryelands, Skerton (including Mainway), and Vale. It will also include a member of the City Council Community Engagement Team, and key organisations such as North Lancashire CAB and CVS. City and County councillors will also be invited. Local community organisations such as schools and churches will also be invited.
The CIO once established will be the fund-holder for the projects and will apply for grants in due course. The charity should be seen primarily as a vehicle for the community to deliver the project, rather than an organisation with its own agenda, imposing this on the area.
The CLT's accountants, Taylor Robertson & Willett, have agreed to help set up budget monitoring and other financial controls for the project. The Good Place will employ a 0.6FTE finance manager for ongoing budgetary control.
Our financial model
Most community centres generate little of their own income, and rely on grant funding and donations to deliver their services. For example Lancaster Marsh Community Centre in 2023/24 generated 9.6% of its own income, 7.2% came from donations and legacies, and the remaining 83.2% from a total of 13 grant makers. The funding environment has become more challenging in recent years and there is no indication that it will ease.
We believe that it will be preferable to be financially self-sufficient, which will allow activity planning in the knowledge that it will not be dependent on successful grant applications. This will not preclude applications being made to funders for additional programmes. This is the route that the Gregson Community Association has taken, and is proving a successful strategy. Just 16% of their income in 2022/23 came from donations, grants and legacies, with the balance being self-generated. The Gregson Community & Arts Centre has of course been operating for over a century and has a loyal customer base, but it suffered a sharp drop post-Covid and has had to work hard to re-establish itself. Their food and drink offering generates valuable revenue, and makes a visit to one's choir practice or language cafe an enjoyable evening. The Good Place will be geared more to families and younger people, and we do not intend to serve alcohol.
Many traditional community centres are small with just one or two sizeable rooms, so the cost of employing a centre manager cannot be spread over many activities. Skerton Community centre has 340m2 floor area, whereas the Gregson has a floor area 50% larger at 514m2. Ryelands House has over twice this area at 1,152m2.3 The far larger area will allow us to rent some of the space and use the income to cover most of the overheads, enabling the community spaces to be provided at lower cost. We will also be able to cover the costs of providing public toilets in the park, and much improved sports changing facilities. Furthermore, we plan to attract local charities and voluntary organisations as office tenants, who will use The Good Place to serve their clients.
Financial calculations
1. Capital Costs.
Our estimate of the costs of achieving a watertight, fully repaired building structure for Ryelands House is £461K. For The Old Man's Rest, including building a second floor over part of the building, the figure is £521K. A breakdown of these figures are shown in Appendix 2. However, these figures will be revised once detailed costings are obtained.
For the purposes of this report, we have assumed that a long lease is granted at a peppercorn rent (or the Freehold is gifted). The costs of acquisition would then just be the legal fees, estimated at £5K. Note that we will be able to reclaim VAT on costs, as we will 'Opt to Tax' the buildings for VAT purposes.
Our estimate of the costs of the fitting-out is £2.58M; a breakdown of this is shown in Appendix 3. Including acquisition costs, the total cost then is estimated at £3.57M, excluding any finance costs.
These costs would be obtained from a combination of sources, including:
2. Revenue Costs
Our assumed costs for running the building are based on actual costs for 2021/22, when the building was occupied by the NHS, and adjusted for inflation and our differing anticipated uses. For the office and studio tenants, we intend to levy a Service Charge in addition to their rent. This would cover their share of electricity, space heating, cleaning, maintenance and the like. However, users renting space on a per-hour basis would not pay an additional service charge, so a percentage of the total revenue costs are assumed non-recoverable. The total annual costs then not recoverable from tenants are detailed in Appendix 3
We are grateful to the Gregson Community Association for sharing their management figures with us. We have also obtained Service Charge Accounts for two other multi-occupancy developments, and as a result, are confident that our cost assumptions are fairly robust.
Our anticipated service charge for office tenants is £42/m2, which is competitive against other local commercial spaces. For non-commercial office tenants, our business plan assumes our charging 80% of the prevailing market rent.
3. Revenue Income
We have considered several combinations of possible uses, and as stated, our intention is to maximise community benefits from Ryelands House. Any commercial let will generate slightly greater revenue, but our current plan assumes that all offices are let to community organisations. Our proposed business plan assumes:
a) The Cafe is operated ourselves as a community cafe, rather than leased to a commercial operator. We will employ a full-time cafe manager, with volunteers providing the required additional staffing. Profit is retained by The Good Place CIO, and a gross profit of £12,000 p.a. is obtained (£240/week). A costs breakdown is shown in Appendix 6.
b) The cafe with adjacent seating, is additionally hired to community groups and/or private parties for 4hrs/week in each case.
c) The large hall is hired 16hrs/wk to private operators offering classes to the public (e.g. keep fit), and 8hrs/wk to community organisations who will not be charging their clients
d) The small meeting room is hired 4hrs/wk to private companies paying full price; 6hrs/wk to community organisations who will charge attendees (e.g. a film club), and 8hrs/wk to community organisations who will not be charging attendees (e.g. Lancaster Green Spaces)
e) The one-to-one advice room is hired for 18hrs/wk, at £6/hr including VAT
f) The studio flat is let for £600pcm, with the tenant paying all bills
g) The sports teams pay £800 p.a. for use of the changing rooms
h) County council pay about £1,000p.a. rent for their storage space
Our estimate of net annual revenue is £112.2K, as detailed in Appendix 4. We are aware that The Good Place will need some time to become fully used and occupied, so we anticipate a shortfall in revenue for the first couple of years. Our funding applications will include a provision for this.
The financial bottom line
As described above and detailed in the appendix 4 below, the anticipated net income from room hire and cafe profit is £112.2K. From this must be deducted £98.6K of overheads not recoverable from tenants through the service charge, giving a net surplus of £13.6K.
As the building is intended to be financially self-sufficient in the long term, we will create a 'sinking fund' to pay for major repairs when required, and we believe that £6K p.a. will be an appropriate amount, increasing in line with inflation. This will leave a surplus of approximately £7K p.a.,which will initially be used to build up a Reserve Fund for the charity in accordance with our Reserves Policy.
1Food Clubs operate from Father's House, Skerton Community Centre and Julie Seaton's house
2 Source: http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/imd/iod_index.html#
3Data obtained from their Energy Performance Certificates, www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate
Ryelands House and The Old Man’s Rest, Ryelands Park, Lancaster LA1 2LN
May 2025 (v.4)
Author – Simon Gershon on behalf of the North Lancashire Community Land Trust. Drawing on the 'Our Place' vision prepared by Morecambe Bay Food Bank and Citizens Advice North Lancashire in 2020, and the Ethical Small Traders' Association principles
Contact details for the author: e: [email protected], t: 01524 542742
Index
- Executive Summary
- A brief history
- Building condition
- Options for development
- Creating a vision
- Developing a scheme
- Services offered
- Why here?
- Governance of the project
- Our financial model
- Financial calculations
- The financial bottom line
- The next steps for the project
Executive Summary
Ryelands House is a grade II listed building in the centre of Ryelands Park, Lancaster. It has been empty since September 2023, and is in a poor state of repair. The adjacent Old Man's Rest building is in a better but broadly similar condition. This proposal details a financially robust scheme to renovate and upgrade the buildings. They will then provide, for the benefit of the community:
- 28 office rooms (totalling 729m2) leased to local charities and other community organisations. We currently have three organisations keen to move in, who between them want 15 rooms
- Two rooms leased to Lancashire County council for ancillary storage purposes.
- A small meeting room to be let at an hourly rate, for community groups.
- A 'Library of Things' service.
- A permanent information display area, with an adjoining room for one-to-one advice sessions.
- A large hall (73m2), to be let on an hourly basis to third parties offering movement activities of various types, such as dance, yoga and keep-fit.
- A community cafe with adjacent indoor seating, able to accommodate up to 30 people. The facilities will also be available for private/community group hire at some times.
- A studio flat, to be privately let for income for the charity operating the building.
- A one-bedroom, two person flat for our resident caretaker.
- Additional space for Nippers Children’s Nursery, with an adjacent outdoor play area
- Public toilets, to be available for park users and centre visitors. There are no such facilities currently in Ryelands Park.
- New team sports changing rooms, situated on a newly built first floor of the Old Man's Rest, above the existing changing rooms.
- Disabled toilets and a fully accessible changing room
- A lift giving disabled access to the first floor of Ryelands House
- Full-time employment for two people, and part-time employment for five more
A new charity will be established, which will apply for the necessary grants (estimated to total £3.6M). Once obtained, the charity will deliver the grant-funded refurbishment scheme and operate the centre.
The centre will be operationally self-sufficient in financial terms. The anticipated surplus revenue will enable a 'sinking fund' to be established, to pay for major repairs in the future, and for the charity to build up a reserves fund, to enable it to continue operating during challenging times.
A brief history
Ryelands House was built in 1836 as a private residence. It was bought by James Williamson II (later becoming Lord Ashton) in 1874 who extended the building in 1883, adding the tower and a separate stables block (Old Man’s Rest) on the north side. Ownership of the building and surrounding land transferred to the City Council after the death of Lord Ashton in 1930, and the grounds of the house became Ryelands Park.
Ryelands House was assigned Grade II listed status in 1970. The building has had various uses in the last ninety years, including accommodating the Auxiliary Fire Service during World War II. For the last twenty years or so, the building has been occupied by the NHS who ran various services from there. They vacated the building in Sept. 2023 and it has been boarded up since then.
The Old Man’s Rest currently accommodates sports changing rooms and a store room used by Lancashire County Council. The first floor rooms were used as a public library during WWII, and have had occasional use since then. There are also rooms on the ground floor which were used by Nippers Children’s Nursery for eight years, but have been vacant since 2022.
The condition of the buildings
Ryelands House is in a sub-standard state of repair, as detailed in a condition report prepared by Ridge Associates earlier this year, and summarised here in Appendix 10. The report details the need to spend approximately £250,000 on urgent and essential repairs within the next two years, with a further £600,000 being required for repairs and routine maintenance within ten years. More money than this may in fact be required, as the surveyor did not investigate the roof space, where water has been penetrating for several years. Roof and also suspended floor timbers may therefore need work. Additionally, some settlement at foundation level is evident, which needs further investigation and possibly remedial work.
These costs would only bring the building back to a water-tight shell with reasonable internal decoration. We would only want to proceed with a scheme for the building if it could be brought up to an appropriate standard for the 21st Century. This would include the improvements to access and toilet facilities, internal wall insulation, secondary glazing, a ground or air-source heat pump, and PV solar panels. Additional fire protection would be installed, to improve detection and slow the spread of any fire. Depending on the occupancy, rooms will need fitting-out with appropriate equipment and finishes to a high standard.
The Old Man’s Rest is in a better state of repair, but suffers from both rising and penetrating water ingress. The sports changing rooms are quite dilapidated, as are the adjacent toilets.
Options for development
1. Physical constraints
Ryelands House was built as a private residence, with entertaining facilities comprising a large kitchen (47 m2) and two large adjacent rooms (67 & 72 m2). There is also a large room (72 m2) on the first floor. We would want to avoid making structural alterations as far as possible, due to cost and listed building considerations. The remaining rooms on the ground floor are generally a good size 20-30 m2, together with a number of small store rooms. On the first floor, the rooms are somewhat smaller, presumably being originally designed as bedrooms. Our proposal takes account of the rooms layout, although we have not yet produced final layout plans. Some internal walls are in fact later addition partitions, which could be easily removed.
It would be technically feasible to convert the first floor to five or six self-contained flats, using a common entrance on the north side. While these flats would command impressive views, this is not our preferred option, for two reasons: a) The flats would only benefit the occupants, and not the wider community; b) Grant funding is unlikely to be given for this conversion to residential. Even if it was for affordable housing, the high cost of this compared to other locations would be unattractive to funders. And there would not be a sufficient return from private rents to justify effecting the conversion on a purely commercial basis.
The site has no dedicated parking or outdoor space, and this is likely to be off-putting to commercial developers. Although a park setting should be an attractive location for a hotel or conference centre, the location north of the river would, we believe, similarly detract from its commercial viability. When the dilapidated state of the building together with its listed status are additionally factored in, we think that any private developer will need a significant financial incentive to take it onto their books. Of course, the City Council might try and sell the building freehold on the open market, and we note with concern, that Ryelands House is currently advertised with Eckersley Property, as being available for sale or to rent.
We believe that any purchase or lease to a private company would be unlikely to serve the needs of local residents in Skerton and Ryelands, and it would be a great shame if this happened without first having had the opportunity to deliver a community-led scheme for Ryelands House.
Regarding The Old Man's Rest, Lancashire County Council have a lease on a central part of the ground floor, which they do not want to surrender. Although in a poor sate of repair, the sports changing rooms are used by football teams and we will continue to provide this facility. Nippers Children’s Nursery would like to return to their former rented premises once its damp problems are rectified.
2. Political constraints
About 1km further north is Skerton Community Centre, which is of average size, having one main room, two smaller adjoining spaces, plus a staff office and small kitchen. It has a 'traditional' financial model, relying primarily on grant income to deliver its services. Activities there include evening fitness sessions with the space let to a commercial operator, youth clubs for under 14's, a food club, craft sessions and social lunch clubs. They also have a small garden with edible plants.
As well as this existing community centre, the Ryelands Residents' Community Group aspires to develop a community building on Ryelands Estate; this is their third priority after the renovation of their play park and the creation of an Astroturf football pitch. Additionally, we have been advised that a community space may be created to serve Mainway residents when the former secondary school site is redeveloped for housing.
As with play parks, there is the dilemma of whether it is better to have several small ones with few facilities each, having the attraction of very close geographical proximity, or to have a smaller number of better equipped ones. This is a strategic decision for policy-makers. It would be quite possible for Ryelands House to become the biggest and perhaps best Community Centre in the district. With the cost of a centre manager spread across more activities, and far more on offer at any one time, we believe that such a centre would be socially and financially viable.
However, it would be difficult to see Ryelands House as a traditional-style community centre co-existing with three other centres nearby. It would be more difficult for the Ryelands Resident Group to attract funding to build their place on Ryelands Estate, and the existing Skerton Community Centre would likely suffer a drop in attendance. While we would be willing to develop a scheme for Ryelands House to become such a centre, we would need to first establish that local residents and their ward councillors were, on balance, in favour of it.
Creating a vision
Although we want Ryelands House to offer a wide range of services to local residents, we do not want to compete with nearby community centres, both current and planned. Rather, we want the activities and services offered in Ryelands House to complement them. For example, The cafe will have a large kitchen that can be used by other groups at times when it is not operating.
We believe that any scheme for Ryelands House should bring it up to 21st Century standards of energy efficiency and renewable energy generation, to reduce its environmental footprint and demonstrate what can be done with a historic building. This will improve user comfort and reduce its running costs, adding to its financial sustainability.
We also believe strongly that the centre should be financially self-sufficient, without requiring grant funding to be viable, once the capital costs of its refurbishment has been covered. Very few community centres are able to do this, which results in their having to continually chase grant funding to cover revenue costs, and compete with each other for access to funds. However, Halton Mill and the Gregson Centre in Lancaster are largely self-sufficient financially
Any provision must be predicated on some core values:
- Everyone in our community matters and has something to contribute
- People should be respected, and helped when they need it
- Everyone is deserving of kindness
- No-one in our community should go hungry (and other Food Justice principles)
- Children should not grow up in poverty
- Enhancing economic well-being
- Caring for the environment
- Cultivating social well-being
- Ongoing personal development
Developing a scheme
As a result of the feedback received, and our own deliberations.,we have come up with this draft vision for Ryelands House. We are aware that the intended activities will be modified once further consultation is undertaken, but we hope that the overarching plan will accommodate this. We are well aware that realisation of any vision will very much depend on attracting sufficient grant funding; identifying potential funders will be the next stage in developing the project. We believe however, that the order in which we are developing the project is the right one, i.e. to first identify the needs and desires of the local community, and then work back to see what will be required of the project in order to deliver these benefits.
Services offered
Here is our current list of services we anticipate being available at Ryelands House, integrated and working in partnership to improve outcomes and resiliency for local residents:
Advice and related help
- General and legal advice – with a welcoming reception process run by Citizens Advice volunteers
- Financial advice, including help to build financial resilience – with Citizens Advice and with access to Morecambe Bay Credit Union
- Housing advice including pre-tenancy training, run by Citizens Advice and the City Council.
- Energy-saving and bills advice, in partnership with LESS and Green Rose CICs
- Drop in spaces for the Council’s Community Connector team and for Age UK
- Signposting to other services – e.g. furniture matters, Inspire, the Well, Global Link
- A community cafe, with a space for people to meet
- A Food Club and/or Foodbank, as long as they do not detract from others nearby
- A hot meal, available every day at minimum expense
- The opportunity for community organisations (and private parties) to hire the cafe and adjacent seating area, when the cafe is not open.
- A space for activity classes of all types, for people to enjoy, learn and develop skills
- A space for interest groups to meet – for older people, young mums, carers etc.
- A space for community groups and company board meetings
- Borrow from a 'Library of Things'. For example, a Baby Bank (essential baby equipment), a kit for DIY decorating, or a set of family camping equipment
Our intention is to create an over-arching theme, developing a 'brand image' so that people will know that good things happen here and are worth checking out.
Our proposed offering is currently as follows:
- 28 rooms (totalling 729m2) leased to local charities and other community organisations. We currently have three organisations who between them want 15 of these rooms, totalling nearly 60% of the areas we plan to lease.
- Two rooms leased to Lancashire County council for ancillary storage purposes
- A small meeting room (24.9m2), to be let at an hourly rate, mostly to community groups
- A 28.5m2 room used to deliver a 'Library of Things' service
- A small permanent information display area, with an adjoining 8.5m2 room for one-to-one advice sessions
- A large hall (73m2) to be let on an hourly basis to third parties offering movement activities of various types, such as dance, yoga and keep-fit
- A community cafe with approximately 50m2 of adjacent indoor seating, able to accommodate up to 30 people.
- A one-bedroom, two person flat for our resident caretaker
- A studio flat, to be privately let for income
- Extra space (123m2) for Nippers Children’s Nursery, with adjacent outdoor play area
- Public toilets, to be available for park users and centre visitors
- Refurbished sports changing rooms
- Disabled toilets and a fully accessible changing room
- A lift giving disabled access to the first floor of Ryelands House
- Staff areas, separate toilet and kitchenette facilities for office tenants
- Full-time employment for two people, and part-time employment for four more
Why here?
The immediate area contains much dense social housing and very few community buildings. Numerous local hospitality businesses that afforded places for people to meet have closed in the past 20 years, including local public houses and cafes. Alongside this, the local community has been particularly hit by the ‘Cost of Living Crisis'. There are three Food Club in the area1, which supply over 500 people weekly.
Surrounding Ryelands park are some of the most deprived areas in the district. Mainway, Skerton East and West, and Hare Runs, are all ranked in the top 10% of the 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). Skerton West area includes Ryelands Estate which is one of the most deprived in the UK, especially in Household Income (rank 55 out of 32,833) and in Income Depravation Affecting Children (rank 52)2
Although The Good Place will be of most value to nearby residents, we expect it to attract users from a much wider catchment. As with Williamson Park, the inclusion of a cafe (with toilets!) will make Ryelands Park a more popular destination. People will have more reasons to come and linger, combining multiple activities when they visit. The well-equipped play park, adjacent Nippers Nursery and Children & Family Wellbeing Services, will mean that it will be especially attractive to families. We will provide upgraded changing facilities for users of the football pitches in the park. There will be an additional changing facility for disabled users, and we hope to provide a 'Changing Places' toilet.
Governance of the project
Our plan is premised on the grant of a very long lease at a peppercorn rent. This would give the local authority the ability to take back the property if it was not being managed appropriately, and would give them ultimate control over the activities allowed there. Alternatively, asset transfer of the freehold from Lancaster City Council is an option.
A new Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) will be registered to take the lease (or freehold title). It will be responsible for maintaining the building fabric, including the creation of a 'sinking fund' to pay for major costs as they arose. It will also pay for buildings insurance and maintenance of fire detection and security systems, and fixed service items such as pipes, wires and heating equipment. The CIO will also manage the operational side of Ryelands House. This will include supply of utilities: broadband, water, drainage, space heating and electricity It will employ staff as required; this will include a resident caretaker and administrative staff.
The Community Cafe will be run as a 'profit centre', with its own costs and expenses. It may be that a linked trading company will be needed, with its own accounts, gifting its net profit to the charity. This is how the Gregson Centre is run. However, by using and training volunteers in the cafe, and delivering additional food-related services, we hope to deliver some of the Charity's Objects through the cafe, avoiding the administrative costs of a second legal entity.
It is possible that solar panels and ground/air source heat pumps will be supplied by Morecambe Bay Community Renewables Ltd, and the CIC will buy some of its heat and electricity from this community-owned supplier. This will give local people the opportunity to invest financially through a community share offer.
Before a Lease is granted to The Ryelands House Community Trust, the North Lancashire Community Land Trust (established 2012 and regulated by the FCA) plans to take over the buildings under Licence agreements. and install 'Meanwhile Use' tenants, until such time that grants are obtained and refurbishment can start. Two organisations are keen to occupy the Ground Floor of Ryelands House on this basis, and would like to be open for business by September 1st this year.
At this initial stage, the project is being developed by a Project Working Group (which is not a constituted organisation). In addition to the board members of the North Lancashire Community Land Trust, the working group will invite representation from the Friends of Ryelands Park and local residents from Ryelands, Skerton (including Mainway), and Vale. It will also include a member of the City Council Community Engagement Team, and key organisations such as North Lancashire CAB and CVS. City and County councillors will also be invited. Local community organisations such as schools and churches will also be invited.
The CIO once established will be the fund-holder for the projects and will apply for grants in due course. The charity should be seen primarily as a vehicle for the community to deliver the project, rather than an organisation with its own agenda, imposing this on the area.
The CLT's accountants, Taylor Robertson & Willett, have agreed to help set up budget monitoring and other financial controls for the project. The Good Place will employ a 0.6FTE finance manager for ongoing budgetary control.
Our financial model
Most community centres generate little of their own income, and rely on grant funding and donations to deliver their services. For example Lancaster Marsh Community Centre in 2023/24 generated 9.6% of its own income, 7.2% came from donations and legacies, and the remaining 83.2% from a total of 13 grant makers. The funding environment has become more challenging in recent years and there is no indication that it will ease.
We believe that it will be preferable to be financially self-sufficient, which will allow activity planning in the knowledge that it will not be dependent on successful grant applications. This will not preclude applications being made to funders for additional programmes. This is the route that the Gregson Community Association has taken, and is proving a successful strategy. Just 16% of their income in 2022/23 came from donations, grants and legacies, with the balance being self-generated. The Gregson Community & Arts Centre has of course been operating for over a century and has a loyal customer base, but it suffered a sharp drop post-Covid and has had to work hard to re-establish itself. Their food and drink offering generates valuable revenue, and makes a visit to one's choir practice or language cafe an enjoyable evening. The Good Place will be geared more to families and younger people, and we do not intend to serve alcohol.
Many traditional community centres are small with just one or two sizeable rooms, so the cost of employing a centre manager cannot be spread over many activities. Skerton Community centre has 340m2 floor area, whereas the Gregson has a floor area 50% larger at 514m2. Ryelands House has over twice this area at 1,152m2.3 The far larger area will allow us to rent some of the space and use the income to cover most of the overheads, enabling the community spaces to be provided at lower cost. We will also be able to cover the costs of providing public toilets in the park, and much improved sports changing facilities. Furthermore, we plan to attract local charities and voluntary organisations as office tenants, who will use The Good Place to serve their clients.
Financial calculations
1. Capital Costs.
Our estimate of the costs of achieving a watertight, fully repaired building structure for Ryelands House is £461K. For The Old Man's Rest, including building a second floor over part of the building, the figure is £521K. A breakdown of these figures are shown in Appendix 2. However, these figures will be revised once detailed costings are obtained.
For the purposes of this report, we have assumed that a long lease is granted at a peppercorn rent (or the Freehold is gifted). The costs of acquisition would then just be the legal fees, estimated at £5K. Note that we will be able to reclaim VAT on costs, as we will 'Opt to Tax' the buildings for VAT purposes.
Our estimate of the costs of the fitting-out is £2.58M; a breakdown of this is shown in Appendix 3. Including acquisition costs, the total cost then is estimated at £3.57M, excluding any finance costs.
These costs would be obtained from a combination of sources, including:
- Private donations from wealthy individuals
- A crowd-funding campaign with local residents
- Grants from charitable trusts
- Grants from funders of buildings, including: Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Houses Foundation, English Heritage and the Architectural Heritage Fund
- Grants from funders of activities, including for example: the Big Lottery, Lancashire Environmental Fund and Walney Extension Community Fund
- Solar panels and/or heat pumps might be supplied by Morecambe Bay Community Renewables Ltd.
- For any shortfall in grant funding, we would seek loans, which would be repaid from our operating income. We would seek expert legal and financial advice before attempting to raise loan finance.
2. Revenue Costs
Our assumed costs for running the building are based on actual costs for 2021/22, when the building was occupied by the NHS, and adjusted for inflation and our differing anticipated uses. For the office and studio tenants, we intend to levy a Service Charge in addition to their rent. This would cover their share of electricity, space heating, cleaning, maintenance and the like. However, users renting space on a per-hour basis would not pay an additional service charge, so a percentage of the total revenue costs are assumed non-recoverable. The total annual costs then not recoverable from tenants are detailed in Appendix 3
We are grateful to the Gregson Community Association for sharing their management figures with us. We have also obtained Service Charge Accounts for two other multi-occupancy developments, and as a result, are confident that our cost assumptions are fairly robust.
Our anticipated service charge for office tenants is £42/m2, which is competitive against other local commercial spaces. For non-commercial office tenants, our business plan assumes our charging 80% of the prevailing market rent.
3. Revenue Income
We have considered several combinations of possible uses, and as stated, our intention is to maximise community benefits from Ryelands House. Any commercial let will generate slightly greater revenue, but our current plan assumes that all offices are let to community organisations. Our proposed business plan assumes:
a) The Cafe is operated ourselves as a community cafe, rather than leased to a commercial operator. We will employ a full-time cafe manager, with volunteers providing the required additional staffing. Profit is retained by The Good Place CIO, and a gross profit of £12,000 p.a. is obtained (£240/week). A costs breakdown is shown in Appendix 6.
b) The cafe with adjacent seating, is additionally hired to community groups and/or private parties for 4hrs/week in each case.
c) The large hall is hired 16hrs/wk to private operators offering classes to the public (e.g. keep fit), and 8hrs/wk to community organisations who will not be charging their clients
d) The small meeting room is hired 4hrs/wk to private companies paying full price; 6hrs/wk to community organisations who will charge attendees (e.g. a film club), and 8hrs/wk to community organisations who will not be charging attendees (e.g. Lancaster Green Spaces)
e) The one-to-one advice room is hired for 18hrs/wk, at £6/hr including VAT
f) The studio flat is let for £600pcm, with the tenant paying all bills
g) The sports teams pay £800 p.a. for use of the changing rooms
h) County council pay about £1,000p.a. rent for their storage space
Our estimate of net annual revenue is £112.2K, as detailed in Appendix 4. We are aware that The Good Place will need some time to become fully used and occupied, so we anticipate a shortfall in revenue for the first couple of years. Our funding applications will include a provision for this.
The financial bottom line
As described above and detailed in the appendix 4 below, the anticipated net income from room hire and cafe profit is £112.2K. From this must be deducted £98.6K of overheads not recoverable from tenants through the service charge, giving a net surplus of £13.6K.
As the building is intended to be financially self-sufficient in the long term, we will create a 'sinking fund' to pay for major repairs when required, and we believe that £6K p.a. will be an appropriate amount, increasing in line with inflation. This will leave a surplus of approximately £7K p.a.,which will initially be used to build up a Reserve Fund for the charity in accordance with our Reserves Policy.
1Food Clubs operate from Father's House, Skerton Community Centre and Julie Seaton's house
2 Source: http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/imd/iod_index.html#
3Data obtained from their Energy Performance Certificates, www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate
