At Tuesday’s Stone Town Council meeting, the council approved plans to lease the former fire station on the new Crown Wharf development to turn it into a new town heritage centre.
The heritage centre has been a planned part of the new Crown Wharf development for some time, and it aims to showcase the town and its history, providing a vital learning resource.
When plans where originally released there was a lot of positive feedback across our social media at the prospect of Stone having its own heritage centre, and its location is ideal for both town centre visitors and canal tourists.
The old fire station building is reaching the stage in its development where it can be handed over to Stone Town Council.
Following consideration and approval by the Council’s General Purposes Committee on Tuesday evening, the lease will now be signed between Joules Brewery and Stone Town Council for the use of the building, which should allow the keys to be handed over before the end of March 2021.
Over the next few months, the Council will be inviting several interested and experienced groups and individuals within the town to assist it with finalising the design of the heritage centre. With such a valuable Stone asset, the council is aware of the need to make the centre appealing to visitors and to maintain that appeal over time, by involving the right people with the right skill sets and experience they look to develop the future vision for this community resource.
Stone Town Council’s General Purposes Committee Chairman, Councillor Rob Kenney, said:
“I’m pleased to be able to support this exciting new development, which will enable us to showcase our town and its rich history to residents and visitors alike.
As part of the Crown Wharf development alongside a new Joules pub/restaurant and a new community theatre, it will be ideally placed as an important new attraction within the town.”
