Disquiet in a village

THERE is continuing public disquiet over the proposals to demolish Croft House, the wardened old people’s home in Croft village, to make way for bungalows for the elderly and a development of two and three-bedroom “affordable” homes.
New plans are to be put to the borough’s development control committee and we understand they involve five bungalows and 19 affordable homes.
They do not involve demolition of the adjoining youth centre, one of the features of earlier proposals which caused local concern. But some residents still oppose the whole concept of replacing Croft House.
The Friends of Croft action group believe the affordable housing will attract families with children – and that a village with no shops, no doctor, no post office, etc is not a suitable place for such families. They point out that some residents of Croft House are unhappy at being forced to move and that families from other areas may be equally unhappy about moving into a village with no facilities.
In addition, they feel the shortcomings of Croft House may have been exaggerated. They cannot see why an identical building in Great Sankey is considered suitable for refurbishment while Croft House is not. They dismiss official claims that Croft House could be structurally unsafe.
Meanwhile, Croft Parish Council has revived the idea of a “community shop” to be run by the village for the village. They are asking if residents would put money into such a shop, patronise it and even volunteer to work in it.
While we can see that funding, staffing and viability might all be difficulties the shop would face, one other problem would have to be solved before such a venture could even be considered. Where could it be located?
If redevelopment of the Croft House site is inevitable, as seems the case, could not a small shop be included in the proposals? It would certainly be a convenient location – and it might just silence some of the objectors.