Rebecca Connop Price reports

THE group formed to save Aldershot’s Chrismas Lodge for community use may have to resort to legal action, campaigners have warned.
At a meeting on Monday night at St Michael’s Church in Aldershot, 20 campaigners agreed to be members of the newly-formed Chrismas Lodge Environmental Community Trust (CLECT).
The trust, chaired by conservationist Mike Hatch, plans to finalise the wording on a proposal to keep Chrismas Lodge and the land around it for community use – but it could be weeks before they get the paperwork together.
Now some campaigners, including Aldershot Civic Society vice-chair Philip Thompson, want to make sure their hard work does not go to waste.
He is worried Hampshire County Council, which owns the site and has said it would like to sell the site to housing developers, could pre-empt the trust’s proposal with a plan of its own.
Mr Thompson said it would be possible to ‘whack in’ a judicial review if the group discovers the county council has not gone through the required 12-month consultation process, in which they are required to find out if there are other uses for the site.
If a judicial review is put in place, it would delay the demolition of Chrismas Lodge and, crucially, allow more time for the trust members to put together their proposal.
He said: “What they’re meant to do is consult to see if there are other possible uses – i.e. another local authority which could find a good reason to have the land transferred to them.
“What we need to establish is have they gone through with the consultation?”
The former care home was closed in November 2005 after Hampshire County Council decided it would be too costly to bring it up to date.
Since then it has been empty – but a recent arson attack has highlighted the site’s vulnerability and galvanised residents to come together to try to save it.
The trust has come up with 14 potential uses for the former care home. Among the ideas for the lodge is a visitor’s centre for the park, a crèche or play group for children and their parents, a bird-watching space, a cyber café, an assortment of meeting rooms for local groups and a small wildlife hospital.
It is hoped that a small income could be generated from the site in order to maintain it and keep the trust going.
Peter Sandy, a former Rushmoor councillor who was at Monday’s meeting, said he thought the judicial review was the only way forward.
Mr Sandy said: “What the group has got to do is use their loaf. The first thing they have got to do is get a judicial review in.”
He added: “The council are going to do them up like kippers if they’re not careful.”
Anyone interested in becoming involved with CLECT can contact Mike Hatch at admin@best-report.org