Home Putting Melton First Saving the War Memorial Hospital Hill House Project Craven Lodge Messages & Support News Releases Clippings Archive Contact 28/08/2008 15:18 Saving the War Memorial Hospital Melton's War Memorial Hospital - a brief history The first house to be built south of Melton's River Eye, Hill House was built pre 1760 by Mr Hind, and let to the Earl and Countess of Chesterfield. In 1840 Colonel Charles Wyndham moved to Melton to follow his passion for foxhunting. Col Wyndham rented Hill House and renamed it Wyndham Lodge, in the hunting tradition. In 1852 Col Wyndham was made Governor of the Tower of London and vacated Melton to his regret. In 1869 the house was rented by William Chaplin, who subsequently purchased it in 1870. Chaplin preferred the location to the building, and had the entire house rebuilt in Wartnaby stone by R. Winter Johnson of Melton, in 1874. Chaplin lived in the house for some 30 years Bequest The house and 15 acres of parkland were purchased by Col Richard Dalgleish in 1920, as a gift to the town, to become Melton & District Cottage Hospital. At the time, the local authority was looking for a suitable memorial to honour those who had fallen during the Great War, so in 1921 Wyndham Lodge finally became Melton & District War Memorial Hospital. Photographs of the time show the Hospital grounds covered in a variety of flourishing trees; the tranquillity of the setting must have provided a welcome relief for those recovering from enemy action overseas. In 1948 the Hospital was subsumed into the National Health Service, and has remained so to the present day. With the building of a new hospital in the town, the War Memorial Hospital is surplus to requirements and its present owners, Melton, Rutland & Harborough Primary Care Trust (PCT), are now disposing of the site. Community Protest Not only was Melton's War Memorial Hospital bequeathed to the townspeople, its grounds and parkland are a much-used local amenity and the most beautiful of Melton's natural landscapes. It is not unreasonable then, that local residents should feel strongly about the potential loss of what they believe, rightly or wrongly, to be a property of Melton. In September 2003, the PCT released information on the sale to an invited group of residents. It was the first time that the community had been made aware of the Trust's plans to sell the site on the open market. At a further meeting at the end of October, the PCT indicated that a bid from the community would be welcomed. However, the 6-week period from the date that the site went on the market until the offer was to be received, included Christmas and New Year, and so effectively precluded a considered bid from any community group. Over the following weeks it became clear that neither the Borough Council nor Melton Mowbray Town Estate were prepared to save the Hospital site for continued use by the community. So Melton First was born; slowly at first, but gathering enthusiasm, support and volunteers as the weeks went by. Melton First activity Our first activity, and one which remains ongoing, is to challenge the PCT's legal right to sell the War Memorial Hospital site. Was it theirs to sell? Had previous property transfers been handled correctly? Were there trusts or covenants associated with Col Dalgleish's bequest that might prevent a sale to the highest bidder? Melton First's second task was to begin the lobbying process in order to persuade the PCT to postpone the offer deadline, to enable a properly considered bid to be put forward on behalf of the community, by the voluntary group. To this end we gathered some 3,000 signatures (of 46,000 widely dispersed rural population), held public protests and achieved outstanding local and regional publicity. But the PCT refused to be moved. When it became time to submit an offer, Melton First could only write to the PCT stating that we intended to enter a bid at a future date. Our third task was to begin the real business of putting together a sufficiently strong development proposal to convince the PCT that the Melton First bid was the best on the table. Following a Melton First presentation to the PCT in March 2004, we found that a total of 13 development bids were being considered and understood that Melton First's proposal was the only non-housing option. Housing development would, without question, raise the greatest sum for the PCT, so our forth task was to gather so much local support that the PCT simply had to listen to Melton First's alternative. Opportunity The sale of the War Memorial Hospital is a great opportunity for Melton's community to shape its own future and that of the town. Melton First's proposal for the Hospital site, Hill House Project, based on the 'dare to dream' philosophy of Cornwall's Eden Project, has the potential to offer Melton Mowbray a new source of revenue generation through creative, cultural and environmental tourism, provide much needed incubator facilities for young people in the creative industries, add considerable event space and compliments other activities under development elsewhere in the area. Even with such a well-considered project, saving Melton's War Memorial Hospital remains no simple matter. Melton Borough Council's Draft Development Brief has not yet gone out to consultation. The Draft document permits housing on the site but states developers must maintain the main Grade II listed building, and that development must be restricted to the existing buildings footprint. Melton First's NHS Estates research has established that housing developers are likely to use enablement procedures, based on the amount of money required to return the Hospital's Grade II listed building to its former glory, to request planning approval to build on much of the remaining land in order to adequately fund the central redevelopment. With monies coming from grant funding and individual donation, Melton First has no necessity to similarly maximise its profitability. Instead we intend to keep the War Memorial Hospital parkland for use by the community for the foreseeable future. Also in this section: Introduction from Mitch de Faria, Melton First Founder... Important dates in the Melton First Diary... How you can help Melton First... Read some of Melton First's many letters of support, and send us some of your own...! Melton First       -       From the Land to the Hand