What's happening to Tower Windmill at Burnham Overy Staithe?

The application to keep Clandon House as a wreck with modern gimmicks is not the National Trust’s only misguided planning application. An application to keep the wings of this historic windmill in storage has now been withdrawn as the NT is thinking again.

The windmill in better days

The Fakenham & Wells Times reports:

A windmill on the Norfolk coast which is owned by the National Trust could be leased out to someone who can afford to repair it.

The revelation came at a packed parish meeting, where one villager described the idea of handing over the landmark at Burnham Overy Staithe, near Wells, as "odious".

Peter Nicholson, the NT's new general manager for the Norfolk Coast and Broads, told villagers the charity wanted to reset relations with them, after a furious row saw plans to restore the 200-year-old Tower Windmill withdrawn after a flood of objections.

Mr Nicholson, who joined the trust in April, said: "I understand the strength of feeling that made us reconsider the planning application. I wanted to do so so we could have a clean slate, a fresh start.

"The trust has not got this right. We've made mistakes in the process of looking after the mill."

Anger erupted after the trust unveiled plans to restore the structure which included removing the sails and placing them in storage - without saying if and when they might be replaced.

After withdrawing its proposals over summer, following almost 120 objections, the trust said it could not afford the specialised work required to return the windmill to its former glory.

At Burnham Overy's Parish Council meeting on Monday night, Mr Nicholson said while no exact costings had been carried out, the work had been estimated to cost between £700,000 and £1m.

Mr Nicholson said: "I'm here to be as open and honest as I can to say we're looking at options. We want to fix it, we want to fix it soon."

He added an "anonymous connection" had said they were able to take on the building  and restore it, in return for being allowed to build a house on the site.

He said the idea was "potentially viable" but in its early stages. The restored mill would be opened to the public "sometimes" were the deal to proceed.

Mr Nicholson added: "The building is unalienable, that means the trust can't sell it. What we'd be looking at is a long lease, with certain conditions applied."  

The idea did not go down well with local Dominic Edmonds, who was one of around a dozen to address the meeting.

"I think it would be odious if any of this ended up in private hands," he said. "That anyone could swan in here, bung in £2m or £3m and end up in that mill his horrible.

"Some time ago, the NT was given a bunch of money to look after the mill and they haven't."     

Mr Nicholson added the NT was also in talks with the Landmark Trust, a charity which takes on the restoration of threatened buildings and opens them to the public.

He said another option was the community could help raise funds towards the restoration of the mill, which could then operate as a social enterprise, such as a café. 

Harry Cory Wright, a landscape photographer based in Burnham Market, was among the 50 or so who turned out on Monday night.

"In terms of money, raising money, this place has money," he said. "If it was correctly dealt with there's no question you could raise the money.

"I'd like to see the sails turning and it being used as a mill."

Holly Smith, who farms nearby, said: "In all of this process there's been a deep sense of ownership of the mill, not just locally but much, much wider.

"The community here would welcome something that makes that mill feel like it belongs to the many people who have connections with it."

Mrs Smith added after the meeting: "At least he came to speak to us. His predecessor didn't."

Brian Knowles said: "We don't need another facility, we've got this hall, we've got five churches, it should be somewhere people could stay to enjoy the coast."

One man added villagers at Heckington, near Boston, had raised the money to restore its windmill, which now had a successful café and shop.

The NT has previously been accused of allowing the Grade II listed mill to fall into rack and ruin and at one point faced enforcement action over its condition.

Built in 1816, it ground corn until its workings were removed and it was converted into a holiday home in 1926.

It was bequeathed to the trust in 1958 and was used as a holiday let which could sleep up to 20 in its six storeys until 2018. 

Since then it has suffered from the ravages of wood rot and the weather.