£100k No.1 New Milton heritage centre plans for old railway station master’s house scrapped

DRAINAGE and stability problems have forced the scrapping of £100,000 heritage centre plans for New Milton’s disused railway station master’s house.

Delays and setbacks have plagued the No.1 New Milton project – so called because the house was the town’s first building in 1886 – since it was first mooted over five years ago.

It was spearheaded by then deputy mayor Cllr Keith Craze to be carried out in collaboration between the town council and Milton Heritage Society.

But society chairman Nick Saunders has now announced the building is no longer suitable to host the museum.

This comes after Network Rail withdrew funds for work needed to address significant drainage issues, as well as an unstable wall. This was expected to cost around £300,000.

As reported in the A&T, South Western Railway was said to have contributed a “significant amount” towards the heritage centre’s expected cost of up to £100,000.

Funding also came from the National Railway Heritage Society, with further sums from developers’ contributions and local donations. Local taxpayers were footing up to £20,000 on a match-funding basis.

In a statement to the A&T this week, Mr Saunders said: “Sadly, the old stations master’s house is no longer suitable for use as a heritage centre.

“The Milton Heritage Society are looking for alternative premises in which to create a heritage centre for Milton parish.

“We would consider going into partnership with another group or organisation to achieve this.”

The No.1 New Milton plan had gathered momentum in late 2019 when New Forest District Council granted a change of use for the house from a dwelling to a heritage centre/museum.

By this time it had been disused for about 10 years.

Intended to host a free-to-enter attraction telling the history of Milton Parish, the building would have contained exhibits in each room of the ground floor.

A large room upstairs would have been taken up by a learning centre for schools and youth groups, also featuring further heritage displays.

With disabled access provision to the first floor not possible, cameras would have fed footage of exhibits to monitors downstairs.

Previous issues that have held the project back over the years include the pandemic and uncertainty over funding.

Local volunteer Mandy Hayes sought an update on the project at a recent town council amenities meeting while announcing she and her colleague Nick John were looking to launch a Friends of New Milton Station group.

This would work on improving the appearance of the site and its approach, and she wished to avoid any clash between projects.

But, having heard rumours the heritage centre plan had been abandoned, she added: “Myself and Nick have decades worth of project and business management experience. Maybe we could take another look at it?”

Committee chairman Cllr Geoffrey Blunden responded Network Rail was monitoring the situation with the station master’s house.

But he said: “At the moment, Network Rail don’t have the money for it – it’s been withdrawn. So we’re in a bit of a stalemate situation.”

Suggesting the Friends group talks to Milton Heritage Society, Cllr Blunden speculated they could put pressure on Network Rail to progress the project.

“I wouldn’t say the heritage centre plan is dead in the water, but it’s almost dead in the water as it’s not going anywhere at the moment,” he added.

Mr Saunders told the A&T the heritage society looked forward to liaising with Ms Hayes and Mr John regarding the Friends group plan.