West Rivers House is a former youth hostel at 13 West Allington, Bridport. It is a substantial building comprising 76 bedrooms across multiple floors, together with two self-contained staff flats. The upper floors contain twelve bedsits, communal living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, a laundry room, and an office. The ground floor includes entrance lobbies, stores, a commercial kitchen (formerly the O Crumbs community café, staffed by able-bodied and disabled people), a meeting room, and two rooms currently described by Magna as a "data centre" (formerly a publicly accessible computer suite).
The building has been substantially empty for approximately eight years. It is owned by Magna Housing Limited (Registered Society number 7520, Registered Provider 4844).
Planning permission was granted on 18 June 2021 under reference P/FUL/2021/00148 for the conversion of the existing four flats into eight flats. This permission has since lapsed, the standard three-year implementation period having expired in approximately June 2024 without any works being commenced. Magna has not, to my knowledge, applied for renewal.
Earlier plans were drawn up in 2016 by John Stark & Crickmay Partnership Architects for Magna Housing Association. These also did not progress.
I note that the 2021 application describes the existing layout as four flats. The accommodation schedule provided to me by Magna (drawn by John Stark & Crickmay in May 2016) describes the upper floors as comprising two self-contained two-bedroom flats, twelve bedsits, and communal facilities. The reason for this discrepancy is unclear.
In correspondence dated 25 November 2025, Magna's Paul Read (a senior officer) stated that Magna plans to "continue using Boldwood as a data centre into the middle of next year" (i.e. mid-2026). The ground floor plan shows two rooms labelled "Computer Room." The remainder of the building — including all upper-floor residential accommodation — appears to be unused. The use of two ground-floor rooms as a data centre does not constitute a meaningful occupation of a 76-bedroom building with approved residential conversion plans.
25 November 2025: Paul Read of Magna wrote to me stating: "We are already coordinating with Bridport Town Council, who are compiling a list of interested parties for a future take-over of Boldwood House." He directed me to contact Paddy Mooney (Chair) and Daryl Chambers (Town Surveyor) at the Town Council.
16 December 2025: Paul Read wrote again, asking whether I had registered my interest with the Town Council, stating: "What we have agreed with the Town Council is that we will pull together an information pack for interested parties and will be coordinating with the Town Council on this."
9 January 2026: Daryl Chambers, Town Surveyor at Bridport Town Council, wrote to me stating: "I have considered your request that the Town Council act as some type of agent on Magna's behalf and control the distribution of plans to interested parties, but I'm afraid this will not be possible. If you wish to engage with Magna, that is down to you and up to Magna to decide if your scheme is worth discussion."
Magna is explicitly directing interested parties to the Town Council as the coordination point. The Town Council is explicitly refusing to perform that role and directing interested parties back to Magna. The promised information pack has not materialised. The effect is that no one is coordinating anything, and third parties who wish to bring the building into use face a closed loop.
In my initial correspondence (18 November 2025), I asked Magna for the DWG architectural drawings from the 2021 planning application, which any party would need to develop a serious proposal for the building. These have not been provided. When Paul Read attached a PDF described as "the form of the building and the accommodations schedule," it was the ground floor plan from the 2016 survey, not the 2021 planning application. The 2021 plans are available on the planning portal as PDFs but are marked as copyright, and Magna has not granted permission for conversion to working drawings.
Bridport and the wider Dorset area face an acute shortage of affordable housing. Twenty-one people died homeless in Exeter in 2024, and similar pressures exist across the South West. Magna itself acknowledges the urgency, stating in its 25 November 2025 correspondence that it is "actively delivering new homes across the county to meet this need" and that "buildings need to be brought into use as quickly as possible." This acknowledgement sits uncomfortably alongside the reality of a substantial residential building held empty for approximately eight years with lapsed planning permission.
I raise this as a member of the public with direct experience of bringing redundant buildings into housing use in Bridport. I negotiated the acquisition of Chancery House, a redundant building, for nil consideration and spent three years and significant personal resources creating eight additional homes. That property is now subject to an S106 agreement ensuring social housing use and is being sold for £295,000. I was a trustee of the Daniel Taylor Almshouse CIO for fifteen years, during which time I secured ten planning permissions on historic listed buildings and helped house a person who had been sleeping rough. I mention this not to claim any special standing but to demonstrate that my interest in West Rivers House is practical and informed, not speculative.
David Partridge
4 Coneygar Lane, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3AS
david@creavid.co.uk