Plans to convert the former Burton Magistrates' Court into a centre for serving military personnel and veterans have won key support from national armed forces charity SSAFA.
The charity - formerly known as the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association - has already met local campaigner Ian Siddalls to discuss far-reaching proposals for the historic Grade Two listed building.
The SSAFA's interest comes amid growing support for the scheme, with more than 500 people signing a petition backing proposals to turn the 108-year-old former courthouse into a centre for past and present military personnel.
Campaigner Mr Siddalls is now hoping to hold meetings with leading businesses in Burton to encourage sponsorship and funding to enable the courthouse to reopen for public use again following its controversial closure in September 2016.
Campaigners are hoping to keep the former court for public use as it was originally intended. Another proposal is to turn the building into a museum of local justice providing modern interpretations of bygone court cases.
The petition has been prompted by the imminent sale of the 108-year-old building - a working court throughout until its closure - by the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), with a view to turn it into housing.
Mr Siddalls, 50, said: “We have had a lot of feedback for a museum and the veteran centre because we haven’t got one in Burton. I think the amount of signatures we have got is good but I think we can gather more than that
“It is not just a veterans’ centre that it could be used for. It could take in a wide variety of support systems such as victim support and health. These services are dotted around Burton but the idea is to have them together as a central hub.
“It is about funding. We were thinking about inviting sponsors, maybe from Marmite or the breweries.
“I know the Royal British Legion have an outreach centre at Burton’s Queen’s Hospital for a day every week and they have said if the court building is safe they would be in a position to have a look at a room for an outreach centre. The hospital then can free up its room.
“I know an ex-veteran who has to travel to Telford for treatment.”
In the meantime, SSAFA charity representatives are hoping to visit the courthouse and have a look inside the building.
Mr Siddalls added: “They cannot afford to buy it outright. We want to hold a meeting and get people on board, asking if they can help. We have at least got to try.”
The petition will eventually be sent to the HCA.
The HCA was handed the court by the Ministry of Justice when the Government body controversially shut the building in 2016 claiming it was underused and expensive to run – costing £200,000 annually in maintenance. At the time, a petition signed by more than 2,000 people was presented to the Government and Burton MP Andrew Griffiths brought the issue to Parliament.
The Burton Mail previously revealed that since closure the building has already cost taxpayers more than £100,000.
Anyone who would like to sign the latest petition can visit here.
A spokesman for the HCA previously said it would not be making any further comment.
Anyone who would like to sign the petition can do so by visiting the website here. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/magistrates-court-horninglow-street-burton-on-trent-de14-1pa
Previous veteran support in Burton
Mr Siddalls was told that SSAFA had praised the town for its previous work supporting veterans.
He said: “SSAFA said Burton was one of the first areas in 1886 to be concerned with former soldiers and Lord Bass made sure that all its employees who went to war had a job to come back to and Lady Bass looked after all their families.”
