Bank Mill

Any of the enlightened out there got the full story on the proposed aquisition and development of the two sites at Bankmill?

Hi

PCDT are looking to purchase it and create a vistor centre and papermaking attraction. Open house at Penicuik Town Hall on a Saturday morning is the best place to ask all about this and their revised 'Plan for Penicuik'.

What's 'PCDT', 'revised 'Plan for Penicuik'' and 'Open house'?

Sorry Folks,

For those not in the know, PCDT are Penicuik Community Delevopment Trust and more info is available on their website http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/
The Plan for Penicuik is basically a list of potential projects or improvements they would like to see happening in Penicuik and 'Open House' is a drop in coffee morning in the Town Hall where you can have a cuppa and see various displays.
The other way of being kept imformed is to contact your local Community Councillor which (if you reside in Penicuik) I can help you with.

Thank you LightLevel. Why should I contact my Community Councillor for more information on this group's plans? Are these groups affilliated? Surely not!

Lothian Lass,
No, there is no official affiliation but both work closely together as sometimes their works overlap and they are both trying to raise Penicuiks profile somewhat.

Berware of subliminal influence

Beware of greenies with the bit between their teeth and their heads in the clouds (where it usually is).
Papermaking Museum?
In your dreams!

I have heard. that the landlord, not the receivers has an agreement with the development group allowing them to occupy for 12 months at a current market rent.

Mm! They'll need to sell a lot of cakes on a Saturday for those sort of prices and get their Sunday Cinema - or social club, as they refer to it on their AGM report -

http://www.penanddistcc.org.uk/NeighbourhoodPlanning/Introduction/NextSteps/Files/PCDT_activities.pdf

- into profit, not loss, to pay for this.

Thank you LightLevel for the link. Interesting reading along with all the other stuff floating about online. I see that one of the plans is to take over the Town Hall. Now, where have I heard that before?

Article and photograph in Advertiser, John McComack hands keys over keys of premises to a beaming member of the building trust. Looks good to go, from comments quoted.

Picking up bits and pieces of this project on the hoof, but it sounds mindblowing. A living fantasy, woven throughout with dreams and nonsense. They want Millions of bucks to covert five areas into ambitious features; Heritage centre, a water power power plant, fish farm and two houses as bunk houses, not forgetting the community garden. Funded by thee and me. How many change of use applications will they require? Scratching my head as I type.

omala, this crowd were the ones for whom the word 'fantasist' was invented.
If you don't believe me, ask anyone who tried to deal with them during the Town Hall/Jackson Street fiascos.
Or try to find out exactly where their money is coming from.
Or try to engage them in a reasonable discussion about anything to do with Penicuik.
The chances of a papermaking museum getting off the ground (nice though the idea is) is no more than a pipe dream. They don't have the money; they don't have the expertise; they don't have the support (except inside their own tiny minds).
As for producing quality paper from Bank Mill, oh, come on!
They still believe that "one more push" is all it needs to oust Midlothian Council from the Town Hall and hand it over lock, stock and barrel to them. To do what with?
Anyone had a look at the state of the Arts Centre lately?

An example of how these people spin things to suit themselves:

Their website at: http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/activities/bank-mill

"The Paper Making Heritage Centre
The Heritage Lottery Fund recently awarded a £60,000 grant to Penicuik Historical Society to create an archive and public exhibition marking 300 years of paper making in Penicuik."

Not true.

http://www.midlothianadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-headlines/open_jaw_delight_at_penicuik_lottery_windfall_1_183085

That is. Big difference!

For goodness sake, what a load of mean-spirited whingers you lot are.

LothianLass wrote:

An example of how these people spin things to suit themselves:

Their website at: http://www.penicuikcdt.org.uk/activities/bank-mill

"The Paper Making Heritage Centre
The Heritage Lottery Fund recently awarded a £60,000 grant to Penicuik Historical Society to create an archive and public exhibition marking 300 years of paper making in Penicuik."

Not true.

http://www.midlothianadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-headlines/open_jaw_delight_at_penicuik_lottery_windfall_1_183085

That is. Big difference!

Let me see if I've understood this.

The Historical Society has been awarded £31,400, out of which, the Penicuik Community and District Trust is going to spend £60,000 reburbishing Bank Mill, creating a museum, a walkway to Carlops, peaceful garden areas - and then presumably someplace where we plebs can gather to watch as they perform the old loaves and fishes trick.

It's not a matter of being mean spirited, Murray. It's more to do with being rational.

It ain't gonnae happen

(I'm pleased for the Historical Society though.)

Murray wrote:

For goodness sake, what a load of mean-spirited whingers you lot are.

Blessed are the self indulgent as they live in a strange place. Get real.

This project is doomed to failure. A nice idea it may be, but as mentioned before these people are not qualified to kik start a venture like this. They got 60K of funding, 30K of which they are using to rent the bankmill buildings for 1 year. They expect to find the extra millions to purchase from donations form philanthropists and lottery grants. I wonder how much money they will waste before admitting defeat ?
It is complete pie in the sky. There is no business plan, just dreams.

Their original plans for the Town Hall came to nothing partly because Midlothian Council never had any intention of letting go of the building though if you read the minutes of their meetings with the Council you would think that things were progressing smoothly towards an orderly handover of the building to them. Never so.
Give them credit for the Sunday Cinema venture though.
Midlothian Council moved very quickly to avoid a repeat with Jackson Street. They complained they never had the chance to raise the money. MC knew fine well that they were never going to raise the money; there was no coherent business plan; they had underestimated the costs and the projections for the use of the building and income were never going to meet.
I can't comment on the Bank Mill venture but from 20 years watching them work I can't see this being any more successful.
You're right about the Lottery grant, Lothian Lass. The Historical Society, not the CDT who have no connection with the Historical Society (much as some of them have been angling for a takeover bid), got a £30K grant for the papermaking exhibition which was very successful.
I don't know where the £60K comes from but then I'm mostly out of the loop now. To do anything with Bank Mill that is going to be worthwhile will need at the very least another 0 on that figure and then you could probably multiply that by 3.
It's just unrealistic.

Basil:

Quote :

I wonder how much money they will waste before admitting defeat ?

I wonder too. They now have the facility to donate through their website and I wonder how much they'll receive from unwitting members of the public and what exactly it's going to be spent on given that they have no business plan.

I wonder too how much of their own cash they're committing.

Quote :

I wonder too how much of their own cash they're committing.

I think we all know the answer to that question, Lothian Lass. Certainly not the best part of £1m.
Trouble with these clowns is they think everybody else wants to live in an 18th century village just like they do. I wonder why Bank Mill no longer produces paper for banknotes. Could it be that the world has moved on and we've found a better way of doing it? This is 2010; we don't need any more places making high-quality paper. How about a factory producing Kindles? Something that might actually bring well-paying jobs?
Papermaking Museum - great idea. So why now? Why not 30 years ago when the writing was on the wall for papermaking in Penicuik and there were still a couple of mills in Midlothian whose owners might have put up a bit of cash to sweeten the pill of closing the place down.
Too late as usual. Like getting up petitions to keep things open after they've closed!

I heard that they are having a Hogmanay celebration, £10 a time, location TBC but specify to wear warm clothing. Some wag suggested the telephone kiosk in the High Street.

Probably going to perform some ritual Sunreturn dance round Uttershill.
Let's see. If they could get the whole population of Penicuik to cough up a tenner for this and allowing for £2.50 for the party goodies and another £1 bung for the organiser (no names no pack drill but we know who it would be and there's nae doot he'd take his 10% off the top) that would leave £3.50*about 18,000 (assuming the kids chipped in as well) that would £630,000 which would be a good start.
Only another two mass parties and they might have enough to start doing something.
Then there's the ongoing running costs, advertising, salaries, etc.
Nope. Can't see it. Not even if everyone in Penicuik were to collective leave of their senses at the same time.

How about getting the PCDT lot out to melt the snow away with all the hot air they are so good at spouting!!!

Great idea and then they really would be 'doing good things for Penicuik'!

Their website refers to the 'recently acquired Bank Mill'. I thought they were just leasing it - another example of spin perhaps?