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Southville’s two Green councillors will today call on the mayor and the council to pledge support for a well-loved community venue in Southville.
Faithspace is a former Methodist church on Stackpool Road in Southville, which has been used for community activities for many years. The venue was closed down a year ago and is now boarded up and starting to deteriorate. The Methodists intend to sell the building while the local community are campaigning for it to be retained for local community use, rather than just sold to the highest bidder.
One of Southville’s Green councillors Stephen Clarke has submitted questions to the Full Council meeting on 15th December to ask the mayor for support in the campaign to keep Faithspace as a community venue. He said:
‘We are really short of community venues in Southville. We already have a high density of housing, and more houses are planned as the population in the ward continues to increase. That’s why we need to keep the community venues we have to ensure that Southville remains the vibrant and attractive community it currently is’.
Southville’s other Green councillor Charlie Bolton has also submitted a statement to the council meeting, stressing the importance of Faithspace for the local community.
The meeting follows a ‘love-bombing’ event of Faithspace at the weekend – where nearly 100 local people came to express their support for the former church by attaching hearts to it, explaining why they think it is important.
Greens have been lobbying for the building to be retained for community use for many months. Councillor Bolton submitted statements of support last December, and he and Councillor Clarke have lobbied the mayor, assistant mayor and officers to take all possible steps to support the community in their campaign to save this community space.