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Scout group hopes for Christmas miracle rebuild

Amy HolmesBedfordshire political reporter
News imageAmy Holmes/BBC A picture of a building that is under construction. It has a grey brick shell and a roof, but there is still scaffolding around it. The sky in the background has grey clouds but also blue skies. In front of it the ground is muddy.Amy Holmes/BBC
The Church Riverside Scout Group is hoping its new building will be watertight by Christmas

Builders are working round the clock to make sure the rebuild of a flood hit scout hut is water tight by Christmas.

Scout leaders from the Church Riverside scout group in Leighton Buzzard said work was delayed until October because of planning conditions imposed by Central Bedfordshire Council.

Chair of the group Paul Casey said that had left the project "in deficit by about £10,000" which they now hope the community will help them to raise.

A spokesperson for the independently run authority said: "While we understand that meeting these conditions may have involved additional time and cost, the alternative would have been to refuse the application."

News imageAmy Holmes/BBC A picture of two men, who are stood outside a new building that isn't finished yet. You can see the grey brick outer shell and scaffolding. The man on the left has short grey hair and is wearing a red and blue woggle and a black coat. The man on the right has long dark hair that is shoulder length and is also wearing a woggle but has a light grey shirt.Amy Holmes/BBC
Scout leaders Paul Casey and David Gregory are hoping the community will help them raise another £10,000 to finish the project

The group had been based in a wooden hut originally used to construct the M1 motorway in the 1960s. But floods and record rainfall in September 2024 led to it being demolished.

Since then they have been renting a hall from the First Leighton Buzzard scout group.

Two months ago Central Bedfordshire Council granted planning permission for a rebuild, but imposed conditions which it said were "essential to ensure the safety and resilience of the building, particularly given the previous hut was destroyed by flooding."

As a result Mr Casey said the group paid "£9,000 for a floor that sits under the hut that we are never going to see again" and added they "were prepared for the build, but not for those extra conditions."

The group has reached out for help from former scouting families, residents and businesses including builder Neil Mills from SD Carpentry.

He said he is working "seven days a week, eleven hours a day" to make sure the windows are fitted on the building before Christmas Day.

"When you get a community to rally together it can happen, so it is really good," he said.

In January it is hoped work will move indoors, with electrics, plasterboard, bathrooms and painting completed in time for the Scouts' planned return in April.

Group lead volunteer David Gregory said the building would be a valuable community space when it is finished and not just for the 60 to 70 children that are part of its beaver, cub and scout groups.

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