A major renovation project at Helston’s community arts building has won the support of the town council.

CAST has submitted a planning application for the first stage of work planned for the Passmore Edwards building in Penrose Road, which it hopes will allow many more events and workshops to take place there, along the same lines as the talks from artists, film screenings and children’s art sessions that are already help.

The town council’s planning committee gave its full backing to the plans when it met last week and now Teresa Gleadowe, chair of the trust that oversees the public areas of the building and the artist studios also within it, has spoken at length to the Packet about the vision for the future thanks to a £500,000 grant from Arts Council England.

She said: “The main reason for us making this space more attractive and comfortable is so we can do more of our programme, because we have tested it and we know there’s a real interest and attendance.

“We quite often have more people, say for screenings, than we can comfortably accommodate. People come from St Just, Penzance, Falmouth, Redruth – it’s putting Helston further on the map.”

The first stage of work, for which planning permission has now been sought from Cornwall Council, is to completely revamp the community café that is currently open Thursday to Saturday.

By installing a proper kitchen, it should allow chef-manager Dom Bailey – formerly of the Duke of Cambridge in London, one of the first certified organic restaurants in the country, and later the acclaimed Gurnard’s Head at Zennor – to open for the whole week serving fresh salads and wholesome dishes along the same ilk as Truro Museum’s popular café.

The existing trestle tables and basic paintwork will be replaced with modern décor and, subject to planning permission, two decaying windows will be replaced with a pair of double doors, leading onto a new terraced area with disabled access.

The dream would be to create a link path between the CAST building and Helston Museum, which is backs onto.

It is also proposed to demolish the central porch that appears at first glance to be the main entrance, which is in fact to the far right of the building to access the café.

“We want to get rid of that confusion,” explained Teresa.

If permission is granted, work would most likely begin in the New Year with a view to completion by next Easter, to allow the major Groundworks project of arts events to take place over the summer.

The second phase would then be expected to begin in the autumn of 2018, again subject to planning permission.

This would involve a new entrance being created to the far left of the building as viewed from the roadside, at the eastern end, which would give disabled access to the former assembly hall from when the building was Helston County Secondary School, which is now used for events during the summer.

A lobby area would be created from part of what was the old woodwork room and now an artist studio, leading into the hall, which would be fully redecorated and refurbished, with central heating added so that events could be held all year round.

Upstairs, the aim would be refurbish some of the rooms into a place to hold artist residencies, for groups of students or artists to stay for short periods of time and produce artwork.

Finally, it is proposed to demolish a toilet block built at the back of the building, to allow for new, accessible facilities to be installed.

The existing rented studios will remain sandwiched between the two public areas, with Teresa adding: “The artist studios are at the heart of the building – literally.”