Spalding's Chain Bridge Forge submits plans to create eco-friendly workshop

Plans have been submitted to create an eco-friendly blacksmith workshop in Spalding as the use of fossil fuels becomes ‘severely restricted’ for the town’s forge.

The plans, which have been submitted by Chain Bridge Forge, seek approval for a two storey building which would be made out of recycled shipping containers clad with weatherboard .

The new structure, if approved, would replicate an old building known as ‘Birches Black Barn’ which stood next to the forge on High Street until the 1960s, and would use solar power.

The Heritage Impact Assessment states: “The need for the project is that the ability to buy and burn fossil fuels will become severely restricted.

“Suppliers of fossil fuels are already contacting us indicating severe restrictions and the possibility of no mines being available in the UK.

“Suppliers are indicating that this may mean the fuel needs to be imported from Russia.”

Speaking to the Spalding Guardian about the plans, Geoff Taylor of Chain Bridge Forge said the hope would be to introduce a silversmith or jeweller on the first floor.

He added that the current forge would be returned to a heritage site, if plans for the new building were passed.

The proposals would also include a covered decking area on the riverbank alongside the existing forge building to allow for external blacksmithing work.

The proposed location for the new building is 5m to the south of the Forge on a ‘poorly maintained’ area of land which is currently covered by tress and shrubs.

The land and the forge both sit inside Spalding’s conservation area but are not listed.

A decision on the plans for the eco-workshop is due from South Holland District Council’s planners by the end of September.