SpICE canalside Community Enterprise Project

The Club recently hosted two well-known local persons, Cllr Debbie Curtis (Stonehouse Town Council) and Pam Swain who spoke to the Club on the subject of the Ship Inn community project (now known as SPiCE).

Both Pam and Debbie have been involved with this community project for a number of years. The aim of the project is to bring a derelict canal-side site into community ownership or control and to develop it as a community resource which will reconnect Stonehouse to the canal as Phase 1B of the Stroudwater Canal reinstatement project nears completion. Phase 1B will finally connect Saul Junction to Brimscombe Port and reconnect the waterway to the national canal network, allowing boats to travel through Stonehouse once more, as they did until the closure of the canal many years ago.

The old Ship Inn site is in the ownership of Stroud District Council and much work has gone on behind the scenes to try to acquire the site for the community following several failed attempts to develop the land for affordable housing, etc. This has been a long and difficult process but at present, the site is now on temporary lease to Stonehouse Town Council who support and sponsor the SPiCE project.

The Town Council are hoping that in 2026 the site might be able to be passed into their ownership or control on behalf of SPiCE who will eventually become a Community Interest Company (CIC) or similar and take over the running of the site for the community with various facilities available. What the final design might look like is still very much in development but this May there will be an official opening taking place.

The site is being developed very much in line with the Town Council’s environmental credentials and much work has gone on to ensure the biodiversity of the site is not only preserved but enhanced. This is very much a developing project and I hope to get Pam and Debbie back in a year or two to give us a further update on developments.