Berkshire Charity Fights to Save Community Hub

A Berkshire charity supporting people in crisis says finding a new home is "verging on impossible" as it faces having to leave its Wokingham base under council redevelopment plans.

The Cowshed is set to lose its 17,000 sq ft premises at Mulberry Business Park if Wokingham Borough Council goes ahead with plans to build more than 100 affordable and specialist homes on the site.

The charity supplies clothing, bedding, household goods and baby equipment to people in hardship, including those fleeing domestic abuse, leaving prison or at risk of eviction.

Founder and chief executive Sally Russell said the stay at the council-owned site was always meant to be temporary, but the charity has grown and the building has become a community hub.

She said: "We've got 400 volunteers and so we've been looking, but finding a building that is free and 17,000 square feet in Berkshire that is going to give us the same deal as we have at the moment is verging on impossible."

She added: "We don't have money to pay commercial rent. We're a charity."

"We're very resilient. We've moved six times in eight years and we'll do everything we can to keep supporting the people we support."

The Cowshed takes referrals from around 200 organisations but is not commissioned or paid by them. It relies on fundraising, grants, selling donated items and activities such as sewing courses. Ms Russell said the charity provided £560,000 in public benefit to Wokingham last year.

She said: "If we weren't here to provide that service, they'd still have to help the people that we're helping. I think they need to look at the way that they work in partnership with charities."

The issue was raised at a scrutiny committee meeting on Wednesday, November 4, as councillors considered the Mulberry Business Park redevelopment. Cllr Marie-Louise Weighill said the authority had previously called The Cowshed a community partner and argued lessons should be learned.

Council leader Cllr Stephen Conway said the charity's occupation had always been intended to be temporary under a three-month rolling agreement for up to three years.

He said: "We will do our very best to make things as easy as possible in these circumstances for The Cowshed, whose valuable work we do recognise and appreciate greatly."

He added: "We want to try and find a way of facilitating their moving to other premises." The council has offered the services of its commercial agent to help find alternative premises, but Ms Russell said finding somewhere affordable remains a major challenge.

She said: "It's very difficult for us to find a property that we can actually speak to the landlord,"

The council's redevelopment proposals are due to go before its executive on November 26.

Katie French, Local Democracy Reporter