THE Friends of Bude Sea Pool have been granted permission from Bude-Stratton Town Council to convert the public toilets at Summerleaze into a merchandise and administration centre for the charity.

The public toilet block, situated in Summerleaze car park in Bude, is currently redundant, and, according to chairman of the charity, town councillor Paul Tilzey — who attended the recent planning meeting as a member of the public — would make the perfect spot for the Friends of Bude Sea Pool volunteers to conduct their administration work, as well as raise funds for the charity through the sale of merchandise — being close to the Sea Pool itself, which is situated on Summerleaze beach, close to the town centre.

On Thursday, November 24, the Bude-Stratton planning committee met at the Parkhouse Centre, Bude, to discuss planning applications.

As well as being granted permission to convert the toilet block into a centre for the charity, the committee also granted permission for signage to be erected at the site, in order to clearly state the Friends of Bude Sea Pool’s presence and purpose within the town.

Cllr Tilzey explained to the committee: “It is a toilet block at the moment, but what we want to do is gut the inside and make one big office, with a sign on the sides of the building to tell people what it’s all about.

“It would be an office for us, which we desperately need; we use the Tourist Information Centre’s office at the moment. We wanted somewhere close to the town centre.”

Cllr Lea Deely, town mayor, said: “It’s in the car park, which would be the perfect location!”

Shaun Collins-Powell, another member of the Friends of Bude Sea Pool, who attended the meeting as a member of the public, explained to the committee that they would use the stone in the wall to integrate back into the building.

Cllr Tilzey added: “That’s the idea, to smarten it up.”

The charity will lease the building from Cornwall Council, and will get the first two years free of charge. For the next eight years, the charity will be charged the nominal amount.

However, Cllr Tilzey went on to explain that the costs for the upkeep of the site would be reduced as they are a charity and it is a small space.

Members of the charity currently occupy half of the office at Bude Tourist Information Centre, which is a home for their storage and is ‘not good practice’.

Fay Hargreaves, charity co-ordinator for the Friends of Bude Sea Pool, told the Post that many members of the charity currently work from home on their laptops or computers, and that a professional office space is exactly what they need.

“We currently work from home, and as we’ve grown and received the fabulous amount of support over time, we need a place to be.”

She said the charity’s time spent at their previous shop in Belle Vue saw a difference in takings, and that their feasibility and footfall has gone down this year.

Fay added: “We need a presence, and hopefully that will encourage more people to get involved with us. I think this could really help.”

She explained that the charity needs to be sustainable in the future and comply with the Charities Commission, and with so much work involving data, a new office space would be ideal for storing this information.

The planning committee had no objections to the application. The final decision is expected to be made by Cornwall Council plans committee.