Freemasons in Wisbech – who increased charitable donations last year to £8,000 because of the cost of living crisis – are to move to the former magistrates court that has stood empty for 13 years. Peterborough businessman Kenneth Ellis –also a director of Central London Masonic Centre – is shown as having bought the building through his company Ellis Investments Ltd.
His company’s ownership is on a change of use application to Fenland District Council which will not alter the appearance of the building but allow internal use by freemasons.
The application has been made by The Wisbech Masonic Benevolent Fund CIO which is based at The Wisbech Masonic Centre in The Crescent, Wisbech.
Fenland district councillor Michael Humphrey is chair of the trustees of the benevolent fund and in the annual accounts for 2023 wrote: “The trustees have continued to explore opportunities to safeguard the future of Freemasonry in Wisbech.
“The current way forward, now approved in principle by the members, is to secure a long-term lease on the former Wisbech courthouse building.
“The special repairs fund established for this purpose now stands at £144,321 having increased in the year due to beneficial interest rates and specific member contributions.”
Reserves for the years rose to £207,502, up from £200,537.
He reported that the cost of living crisis had prompted charitable donations to rise from £2,171 to £8,176 “with notable donations of £2,500 to Wisbech foodbanks and Fenland Families and Baby Bank and £1,600 to the Arthur Rank Hospice charity”.
Freemasons say the proposed use of the magistrates court will only involve the inside of the building – it is expected to be able to accommodate up to 120 people.
The redundant court house was bought for £150,000 10 years ago by property developer John Foster but went back on the market last year with a guide price of £150,000- £200,000.
The former magistrates court and adjoining current operational police station were offered as a whole by selling agents Maxey Grounds.
The police station including yard area and shared use of a car park is let to Cambridgeshire Police Authority on a long term lease at a rent of £1 per annum until 2094.
Mr Foster bought the magistrates court a year after he had sold Foster Property Maintenance to Lakehouse in a multi-million pound deal.
Confirmation that Mr Foster had bought the court house came from Shailesh Vara, at the time Parliamentary Under-secretary of State for Justice.
It followed a surprise announcement in the House of Commons that a planned auction of the court house had been called off pending a sale to a local developer.
At one stage Fenland District Council had considered buying it.
As I reported at the time, the council called off their proposed purchase following their failure to negotiate a transfer out of the building by Cambridgeshire Police.
Fenland Council looked at buying the building to ‘round off’ the Nene waterfront regeneration project.
Mr Vara defended the speedy sale of the court building, arguing the Government needed to dispose of surplus property assets “as expeditiously as possible”.
He said that since the court closed in April 2011, the Department for Justice had incurred monthly costs of £1,500 at Wisbech and once the council withdrew their offer it was decided to put the property up for auction.
“However, in the meantime an offer was received from a local developer at an acceptable market level,” said Mr Vara.
The minister, in a letter to NE Cambs MP Steve Barclay, said the issues of the police willing to vacate later this year “and the fallout from the previous transaction on the Nene waterfront were not advised to us.
“The Ministry of Justice took full professional advice about the offer and decided to accept it, thereby negating the need for the property to be sold at auction.”
FACT FILE
In 2015, the then county council leader Steve Count pressed – unsuccessfully – for all councillors and senior officers to declare publicly if they are a freemason.
“One area of concern I have seen expressed on social media and personally to me is the secrecy supposedly surrounding membership of the freemasons,” he said.
“As leader of a county council I believe the trust of the electorate is important not just for me but for the whole political system.”
He also wanted councillors and officers to declare if their wives or partners – including those in a civil partnership- belong to the freemasons.
He said: “The freemasons themselves encourage openness and transparency. However simply passing on this knowledge on its own has does little to allay the electorate’s fears, whether real or unjustified.”
“I have therefore decided a more proactive approach to increase transparency would be a good idea”
From 2004 to 2012 councillors were obliged to declare freemason membership but the rules changed when the Standards Board of England gave way to a lighter code of conduct regime governing their behaviour.
