The lengths which Spalding School of Dance has gone to in order to find a larger base has been revealed.
School principal Claire Patman claims she got close to a number of town-centre properties before deciding to apply for a new-build in the grounds of her home in Rangell Gate, Low Fulney.
Mrs Patman set her heart on a move from the school’s current base in Horseshoe Road to the former tax office building in Holland Road.
She said in a resubmitted planning application: “Sadly, after six months of planning and a day away from putting in a change of use and heritage impact assessment I was beaten to buying this building at the very last minute by a cash buyer.”
Mrs Patman also considered the ex-Royal Mail sorting office in The Crescent and putting parking underneath, and had six months of talks with a brewery over buying The Royal Mail Cart in Pinchbeck Road.
Other places in the pipeline included the former EPH site in West Elloe Avenue (now Enterprise Rent-A-Car), former rest home Halmer Grange and a site in Clay Lake, for which Mrs Patman says she had plans drawn up and had support from South Holland District Council leader Gary Porter.
An original application for a new-build in Rangell Gate with three dance studio’s and a caretaker’s flat was turned down by the district council’s planning committee last month because the site was in open countryside, had no footpath it and would be reliant on car-borne journeys.
The decision read: “There is no overriding need for the proposed use, including an associated flat, in this unsustainable location.”
Now, an application has been resubmitted without the flat element.
