URC Project

The Old Chapel in Fowlmere, a building that has served the community for over 200 years, is at a crossroads in its history. The United Reformed Church (URC) has decided to sell the building as they are no longer using it as a place of worship.

The Parish Council has been looking into the viability of purchasing The Old Chapel so it can continue to serve the village as a key community facility.

We held a drop in open morning on Saturday 18th January for residents to pop along, see the building and ask questions between 10am and noon. This was a great success with over 100 residents coming along. Many of the questions were similar so we have created an FAQ document to answer them.

The document below (URC v4.1)  makes the business case for purchasing The Old Chapel as well as giving a historical background.

This is a working document that will be updated as new information becomes available.

As the plan is a working document that will be updated regularly large print runs will not be taking place to avoid waste but individual requests to view a  copy will be accommodated. If you would like to borrow a printed copy of the plan, this can be arranged by either emailing the Clerk @ clerk@fowlmereparishcouncil.gov.uk or telephoning 01763 259218.

UPDATE 07/04/2025: The Parish Council has submitted a change of use planning application to widen the scope of community use. This will add class F2 (community use) to the existing F1 (place of worship) planning status.

UPDATE 20/04/2025: This positive news article on the project has been published by Cambridge News.

UPDATE 27/08/2025: Listed Building Consent to remove the pews and lower staging has been granted. The conservation officer who considered the change of use was fully supportive of Fowlmere Parish Council’s plans to keep the building in community use and preserve the heritage of the site. Read more here

UPDATE 08/10/2025: Change of use permission granted by SCDC. This adds the community uses of F2(a) and F2(b) to the existing F1 uses. These additional uses will make it easier for the Parish Council to run this community asset without the need to increase the “precept” and in time, modest profits will allow the Parish Council to reduce the “precept”. District Councillors that considered this change of use planning application were impressed with the hard work Fowlmere Parish Council had already put into this project. Read more here

This page will be updated with information and documents as the project progresses.