Thank you for submitting your petition about Wensum Lodge.  It has been shared with relevant senior officers and Cabinet Members, who have considered your views.

The decision to withdraw the Adult Learning Service from Wensum Lodge, and the decision to dispose of the site, was taken by Cabinet in July.  The decision was subsequently reviewed by the Scrutiny Committee, who resolved to take no further action.  Officers and Cabinet Members have also received and responded to correspondence and questions, including questions submitted for Cabinet meetings, as well as talking to staff, learners, and other stakeholders directly, for example through the recent learner’s forum.

As a result, officers and Members are well aware of local views and feelings around the future of Wensum Lodge and recognise and appreciate these views.

We also have a responsibility to deliver efficient and effective public services.  Whilst we understand the disappointment felt from many in the community that we will no longer be delivering adult learning courses from the Wensum Lodge site in the future, we continue to believe that this is the right decision for the service.  This is because:-

• The Wensum Lodge site is significantly underused, with space utilised on site being consistently below 30%
• The way that people want to access our courses has changed and we currently deliver just 22% of our total courses from Wensum Lodge
• The layout and nature of the buildings means that many rooms are not accessible for all learners, particularly those with impaired mobility
• There is very limited parking on site and despite being in the centre of Norwich, access to public transport is not ideal, particularly for those people with particular access requirements
• We have been increasing the number of courses that we deliver outside Norwich so that people from across Norfolk can access these opportunities, an approach that also helps people save time and costs of travelling.  This approach has been very much welcomed by those who live outside Norwich
• We already deliver courses in other venues in Norwich because Wensum Lodge doesn’t have the vital facilities that some of our learners need
• The site is energy inefficient and significant repair and maintenance costs are needed.  Moving to more appropriate locations means the service can be more financially sustainable, which means we can focus the budget available on providing the courses our learners most want and need.

A large part of the reason why we worked on a vision for a creative hub was because utilisation of the site by Adult Learning was low, and overall usage figures have decreased further since our initial modelling was carried out.

We are disappointed that the vision for a creative hub on the site did not come to fruition.  We said at the time that the vision was ambitious and would need external funding to be able to deliver.  Since that vision was originally developed in 2019, a lot has happened that has impacted significantly on the overall viability of the project.

The original estimated cost of £22.8m will now be a significant under-estimate of the total cost.  This is because:-

• Inflation has risen at levels we had not predicted
• Construction industry inflation has risen particularly sharply, with a 26% peak for construction materials in June last year
• The condition of the buildings has deteriorated.During lockdown restrictions we were not able to operate the site as normal and this created some issues, including water ingress in some areas which we could not quickly identify because the building was closed
• The complex layout and nature of the site means that it will be challenging and expensive to decarbonise the buildings, to deliver on the County Council’s commitment to carbon neutrality

The changing national picture means that securing external funding for the project in the location in the short or medium term is very unlikely.  In the current climate, the project is not deliverable.

Thank you again for submitting your petition, and we are sorry that we are not able to agree to your suggestion to reconsider the decision.

We are aware that an application to register the site as an asset of community value has been submitted, and the County Council has no objection to this.  We would encourage you to work with local stakeholders to develop a potential future community use that may be appropriate and viable for the site so that it can be considered.

In the meantime, we remain committed to delivering a full range of adult learning opportunities and we do not have any intention to stop offering the types of courses that we currently deliver, albeit they may be delivered in new venues.

We also remain committed to creative arts and activities.  The County Council has a strong track record in supporting creative practitioners and SMEs in the county.  This includes working with Norwich University of the Arts (the most successful creative university in the UK), administering the Norfolk Arts Forum (one of the largest creative networks of its kind in the UK) and delivery of Start East (a major programme supporting creative and cultural economy).

On a final note, the oldest building on the site, dating from the 12^th century, is the Music House.  This building is owned by Norwich City Council, not the County Council, and we will be handing the building back to the City Council.