The Purifier Building – before all the work began
The Faversham Creek Trust weblog has put up a very positive report following the trust’s annual general meeting held last week – it’s all great news.
Some 100 members attended and total membership now stands at over 500.
The organisation has raised and spent £60,000, mostly on restoring the roof and windows of the Purifier Building and installing power. More than 40 tons of rubbish and scrap have been removed by hand.
An outstanding issue remains the requirement for a new opening bridge to enable he upper part of the creek to be used, and to allow vessels coming up the creek to access the purifier building.
Kent County Council would like to see a fixed bridge put in place but happily are prepared to put their estimated cost of a fixed bridge, £400,000, towards the cost of an opening bridge, and the trust will shortly publish its conclusions following a survey of the different designs available.
The trust believes comparisons with Maldon in Essex shows the potential of opening up the Creek and increasing the amount of boat maintenance and building work: a comparison with another popular barge centre of similar size, Maldon, shows that town’s tourism is about double the current level of tourism to Faversham.
The trust concludes as follows: ‘We are on track to meet our vision to see the whole Creek energised as an active maritime centre using the basin as a home port for barges and traditional craft, and with repair and maintenance facilities for them right here in the town centre; the Purifier will then become a true community resource at the centre.’
