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Museum News News posted: 1st December 2009 Brooklands - We're Banking on it Like an urban myth, Cobham moving to Brooklands had become just a possibility. Not now. The original dream by members of the old London Bus Preservation Trust has crystallised in the last few weeks. Moving a volunteer organisation to participate in the arena of another largely volunteer organisation is not an easy task to achieve. But we are well on the way now. To make all this happen we need to sell the time expired Redhill Road site. Without releasing the capital tied up in the site we could not make the move. This has been the stumbling block. The world of property development is saturated with speculators and hopeful wannabes; trying to develop a brown field site in the green belt is not a place for the inexperienced. The original proposal for housing development was rejected a couple of years back. Things have changed. Since early 2009 we have been talking to a company called U.E.D. - a specialist in nursing home development. This has proved to be a good decision. There is an increasing need for nursing homes as the UK demographic profile matures and there is every indication that such a development will be favourably received. With a strong developer candidate on board we have been able to intensify our discussions with the Brooklands management team and hammer out the broad areas of understanding. As a result, on 23rd September 2009, we were able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Brooklands. This sets the ball firmly rolling into the next stage - agreeing the details of the lease and the operatingagreements. This will take some weeks but the goodwill is there on both sides to solve the inevitable issues that will arise. Work has already started. On 24th September we signed the Heads of Terms with the developer. Again this is a precursor to the formal legal documentation but it indicates goodwill on our part. More importantly it enables the developer to start the planning application in earnest. The planning process can be tortuous but we are hoping that the groundwork already done will help. The broad strategy is that the planning application for the new building at Brooklands and the redevelopment of Redhill Road site will be informally linked. The developer will be responsible for preparing the site at Brooklands and erecting the new museum building. When the new building is completed, the developers will hand us the "key" and we will have a short period to relocate. This is where we are and we can really say that things are now moving. There is a lot of work involved in making this happen and we need as many members as possible to help with this exciting move. If things go well by this time next year we will be well established at our new museum. Thanks to Peter Duplock (Chairman) for this article. News posted: 1st December 2009 Spring Gathering on Sunday 11th April 2010 - The BIG ONE!! We look forward to seeing you all at our Spring Gathering event at Wisley Airfield, featuring around 300 buses and coaches. It will also be open house at the Bus Museum's home in Redhill Road, Cobham, with lots of stallholders and refreshments at both sites. Please see the Events page for further details. Thank you for your continuing support of Cobham Bus Museum, the Home of London’s Bus Heritage.

The London Bus Preservation Trust Ltd, Redhill Road, Cobham, Surrey, KT11 1EF Tel. 01932 868665

Registered Charity No. 1053383

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