A councillor wants to reopen an initiative which teaches teens construction skills after the charity he helped set up was given planning permission to continue, nearly nine years after it first launched.
Long Sutton Men’s Shed has around 150 members and was set up at Silverwood Garden Centre in 2017 with the aim of alleviating loneliness.
Last week South Holland District Council’s Planning Committee granted retrospective change of use planning permission to turn it from retail to both learning and for community use.
The category only came into planning law in 2021, four years after the shed started.
The action came before the committee because Silverwood is owned by Coun Jack Tyrrell who rents the space out to the charity for a pound a year.
The application also mentions the Youth Shed which involved encouraging young 11 to 15 year old to learn skills like bricklaying, often working with attendees from the Men’s Shed.
But the Youth Shed was closed last May by its trustees, of which Coun Tyrrell is not one. The trustees said it was due to a health and safety issues relating to the building
Coun Tyrrell says it related to an electrical issue that has now been fixed, and he has reached out for the trustees to come back or he could also look to set up a new Youth Shed.
“Those trustees are more than welcome to come back, everything that’s gone on is water under the bridge as far as I’m concerned,” he said following the meeting. “I just want the kids back learning.
“I didn’t spend two years chasing funding to get it off the ground for it not to happen.
“There’s so many young people in the local area not in work. If you teach them the skills and they get a few pounds in their pocket as a result then I can guarantee they never look back.
“I’m just glad that the Men’s Shed can continue.
“I’ve seen the amazing work they do and know of three people who have told me they were feeling suicidal before attending.
“It really is a fantastic thing for South Holland as a whole, not just Long Sutton.”
A spokesman for the trustees of the Youth Shed said those being it ‘are currently undecided’ on its next steps.
The Planning Committee was told complaints had been received, including from Long Sutton Parish Council, that the application had not been advertised enough.
Officers said they were happy the notices had been placed on the nursery grounds itself, because it was closer to the corresponding building.
Planning chair Coun James Avery said of the number of responses: “The public obviously were aware and they didn’t just dream there was an application put in by Coun Tyrrell.”
David Wilson, speaking as an objector to the proposals at last week’s meeting, also said the Men’s Shed was ‘unsightly’ while calling the site a ‘mini Springfields’.
“Approve this and the planning authority will set a very low bar,” he said.
But councillors passed the application.
Coun Thomas Sneath said: “I can understand why people are upset at the retrospective nature of this, but maybe the Men’s Shed is a victim of its own success.
“It’s grown and people look forward to going there.
“Now it needs the proper classification and the report puts that in place.”
