Council approve plans for major community hub in Nelson with cafe and creche

Applicant, Mr G. Hussain of LightBeam Academy, applied to Pendle Borough Council in February to change the use of a former council building in Nelson into a multi-use community hub, called The Bestlight Community Hub.

After plans were approved, with conditions, last week, the large former council offices in Elliott House on Market Square, Nelson, will now be transformed to provide invaluable services to the local community and provide a focal meeting place for the residents of Nelson.

In a decision notice on the council's website, planning officers stated: "The proposed development would accord with Local Planning Policy and would be compliant with the guidance set out in the framework.

"The development therefore complies with the development plan.

"There is a positive presumption in favour of approving the development and there are no material reasons to object to the application."

LightBeam Academy is a charity organisation which was established in 2017, and after purchasing the former council offices, which overlook Nelson Library, is already using the first and second floor for education use.

The charity's education academy provides religious lessons to school age children, and when the application was submitted, it sought permission to build a further nine classrooms for primary age children and three larger classrooms for secondary age children.

Plans also include a messy play/multi-sensory room, a visitor lobby waiting area, an administrative office, meeting room, student assembly room, staff room/kitchen, resource room and toilets.

There are also plans to provide a variety of spaces for spiritual activities such as meditation and adult classes and to also cater to the physical well-being of the community through activities such as exercise classes and yoga. 

Now that plans have been approved, the applicant will prepare to build a meditation/spiritual room which can hold around 100 people, a library, a studio for physical activities such as yoga and exercise classes for up to 25 people, a sauna and steam room, counselling and alternative therapy rooms and space for homeopathy services. 

The planning statement submitted in February reads: "An important aspiration of the LightBeam Academy is to provide a hub for the community to attend and congregate around.

"In order to meet this aspiration they wish to provide a community café within their new premises.

"The community elements of the scheme are to include a safé for approximately 25 people, kitchen/cooking facilities, and a community space for multi purpose use such as adult classes, seminars etc.

"The distinctive uses of the Community Hub are to work in tandem with each other.

"The well-being and community uses are to be easily accessible and the circulation through the building is to be simplified as much as possible."

Elliott House is a former civic building in the style of similar civic buildings in the vicinity and is made up of two distinct parts, an earlier construction on the corner of Market Square and Cross Street and a later addition built in the same architectural style.

The property is over three floors and previously accommodated a number of civic departments such as finance and planning.

In transforming the building, the applicant has decided to pursue a scheme whereby minimal intervention to the internal and external building fabric occurs.