Flax Mill restoration would be no problem with London postcode

It's a pity we're not in London.

Not because I want us all to live under a blanket of smog, be the victims of crime or have some wierd character from a children's book running our town writes Dave Burrows.

No, it's a pity we're not in London because if we were we might get what we deserve.

I'm thinking, specifically, of the Flax Mill.

Yipee - the people behind plans to restore it and bring it back into public use have been given just under £500,000. What does that pay for? Certainly not the bricks and mortar needed. But at least it's a start.

I have it on good authority (from the bloke who sits next to me in the office, who got it off a bloke at the council who heard it from guy down the pub) that the money from the Lottery people (less than you can win on a scratchcard, you'll notice) means that they like what they have seen so far, but want more details before deciding whether to hand over the whopping £11.6 million which is actually needed to get the redevelopment off the ground.

Which brings me back to my original point.

London.

Would we still be waiting if the Flax Mill was in London? I very much doubt it.

I have been writing about the Flax Mill for years. I went on a tour of it SEVEN years ago (when they were very excited about the prospect of work starting very soon).

The mill is important not just locally, but nationally and internationally. The world's first iron-framed building. The granddaddy of the modern skyscraper. You know that Shard-thingy they've thrown up in London? Without the Flax Mill that wouldn't ever have been possible. Maybe we should've been given some of that cash, eh?

The reason the Flax Mill redevelopment is still in the pipeline is thanks to a small band of incredibly dedicated people giving their time for free.

Thank goodness for the Friends of the Flax Mill Maltings who have ploughed on in the face of adversity. They reckon they can get an application for full funding ready in about a year, meaning that if they do get the cash, work could, finally, start in 2014.

Sadly, there is no guarantee that the hard work of the volunteers will be rewarded with a full grant (although 80 per cent of projects which get this far do).

Just to be on the safe side I suggest the Friends invest some of the money they DO have in lottery tickets. And a PO Box in London.

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