Well done! We are pleased to announce that our plans for the acquisition of Victoria Primary School are on target, thanks to your help.
Critical Meeting
Last week, we appeared before local Councillors on what is called a Community Asset Transfer Stage Two Panel. It was confirmed there that ours is the only application they are considering.
We mounted a sophisticated presentation using a wide range of colourful photographs and graphs, with critical links to an impressive number of local groups from professional firms to key charities, all involved in our three interconnected intergenerational themes that some of you now know off by heart:
Culture & Heritage
Learning & Enterprise
Well-being in the Community
We passed the test!
We demonstrated both the viability of our long term Business Plan and that what we propose is in the interests of the whole community, by honestly answering questions put to us by the various councillors.
Crucially important was to demonstrate how Well-being has, during “lock-down”, embraced the other two themes.
Learning & Enterprise is attracting novel ideas of helping each other face an uncertain future that with imagination has great opportunities for innovation, including awareness of environmental challenges.
Culture & Heritage has a key part too. The iconic Victorian Building will not be mothballed or converted into flats after 176 years of history but will tell the story of Newhaven over the past 500 years while looking confidently forward, using imaginative interactive techniques.
The modern Anchor Building will primarily meet the urgent need for nursery care. We expect that other compatible enterprises might well be accommodated in a flexible use of the space. The surrounding attractive garden and playground areas will help showcase this as the beating Heart of Newhaven Community.
The Panel was impressed and we have been encouraged to move forward with our plans.
And you have helped: either because you were already part of the Heart of Newhaven Community ❤️ or because through our recent postcard delivery you have just joined us, boosting support.
Keep the numbers growing. Representation of the whole community across what is technically called “the area of benefit” is essential to meet the City of Edinburgh Council targets for the ways in which they are required to provide for important needs from the youngest to the oldest in an area of growing population.
If you live in this area – as nearly all of you do – you should have received an attractive postcard designed to encourage more people to join us.
We have delivered nearly 7,000, which gives some idea of the population. We’ve still not quite finished (in case you haven’t got yours yet) but the results, together with our modern media contacts, are very encouraging.
It is now even more important to make sure your friends have signed up too.
Ask them.
Nudge them.
Tell them how good it will be for them too.
Why not display the postcard in a window for the world to see?
Imagine Newhaven’s beating heart on display together with the rainbows of hope! What a combination!
️
Rodney Matthews
Chair, Heart of Newhaven Community
chair@heartofnewhaven.co.uk
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