The Former Willow Rooms
Thank you to everyone who's emailed or messaged about the former Willow Rooms in Romford. Our team have discovered quite a lot of information about the new owners, which we are happy to share with you.
Meet The New Owners
Shade are a charity founded in 2011, they describe themselves as:
"an initiative based in East London. It is a centre aiming to cater for, and facilitate the needs of the community in many aspects, our aim is to create awareness, tolerance and harmony not only within ourselves but harmony and balance with our community, society, humanity and creation in general. By the means of activities, courses, events and workshops we hope to build community bonds and social health as well as physical and spiritual health"
They currently operate Shade Centres in Manor Park, Chadwell Heath, and hope to open Shade Romford at the former Willow Rooms. All of the centres are described as community centres, although this is a tactic commonly used create a place of worship, in a location that might struggle with planning permission.
There are a few historic posts in their social media, claiming that they also run an over 50's ladies tea club, and a ladies fitness club, but we are unable to confirm that either actually takes place.
We've found various Instagram videos, that seem to confirm to us that the Willow Rooms will be primarily be a mosque and madrassa.
As does this fundraising poster, and images from Shades instagram account.
Does It Need Planning Permission ?
Looking back through permissions granted for that site, we can't find anything online that indicates any grant of planning permission, or indicates the last known building use class of the Willow Rooms. The council's online data only goes back as far as 2003, and records relating to the original scout hall, built in 1965, may be paper archives only.
Based on it's most recent use as a wedding reception venue, we'd expect use class to be attributed to the Sui Generis class, which covers uses that are outside of the regular use classes, a full explanation is available here.
Information held on the Valuation Office Agency website, describes the site as a "hall and premises"
The use of a venue "for, or in connection with, public worship or religious instruction" is covered by use class F1(f), meaning that it were to be used for that purpose, then a change of use planning permission would be required.
Any new use as a "community centre!" would still require planning permission, which would now come under the F2 class, and possibly elements of the F1 class.
In an ideal world, the new owners would seek pre application advice from the council, but we doubt that will happen. Any use for worship would be considered to a breach of planning control, which could lead to enforcement action,. Failure to comply with an enforcement notice is a criminal offense and can result in prosecution in the courts, leading to fines.
Under UK law, property ownership, does not give you permission to do what you want with your property.
And you may have seen posts from a local councillor talking about premises licenses. Any use "for, or in connection with, public worship or religious instruction" doesn't require a licence because it's not a licensable activity. Licensable activities ,covered by the Licensing Act 2003, generally include the sale or supply of alcohol, the provision of regulated entertainment, and the provision of late-night refreshment
The Potential Impact On The Area
The most obvious point is that there is literally no unrestricted parking available in local streets. Willow St and Como St are Controlled Parking Zones requiring a permit to park , Zone: Romford 2B, from 0830-1830hrs, Monday to Saturday.
We estimate the combined capacity for both halls, to be around 180 people.
There are two 30m sections of yellow lines that are covered by a single yellow restriction, also from 0830-1830 Monday to Saturday.
Local residents are monitoring the site for us, and currently there is no evidence of any use for worship. If anything changes, we'll let you know.