ACP Update

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22/01/07 -

"As chair of the ACP, and on behalf of the team, I am happy to announce that we have completed the brief given to us in June 2005, to investigate and form a plan for a new village hall for Appleford. In brief, I will present here some of the major findings of this investigation.

"First, I'd like to reassure everyone that the new hall project is still very much alive and proceeding well. It is continuing to develop its brief and to apply for other funds to add to those it has already secured.

"As you know, the Parish Council has decided to consult the whole village on a larger scale through a Parish Plan (which should take till the autumn).

"The ACP welcomes the chance a Parish Plan offers to consult with all Appleford residents, including the under 18s, and trusts that the outcome, whatever it turns out to be, will be accepted by all parties.

"It seems a good opportunity at this point to extend my thanks to the team members, past and present, for their hard work, dedication and welcome humour so far.

"Thank you especially to Mary Hancock, Steve Flinders, Graham Klyne, Paul Horton and Donald Alcorn, but also to the many others who have encouraged, helped out and supported the project. Please don't stop supporting us because we have to wait a while longer and consult further, we must be united as a village on this, and we have to wait for the Lottery funds to come through anyway.

"The original £50,000 from WREN that we started out with has had to be assigned elsewhere, and the ACP sees the reasoning in that - better the current hall gets some help to keep going than the money is lost. But the plans for the current hall must be approved by WREN and they must be begun before the end of April this year or the £50K will be truly lost.

"However, the removal of this very tight deadline from the ACP's project has given it much-needed breathing space. In addition, that tranche of funds has now been wholly replaced with a very generous offer from the 2Morrow Group. Details of the funding secured and applied for so far will be forthcoming, hopefully in a project-dedicated newsletter.

Main findings:

The results in brief of the ACP's 18 months of work are that a re-sited, newly built hall that is substantially larger than the current hall, built utilising sustainable materials and methods and catering for the modern hiring market, is very much better value for money than refurbishing and/or extending the current hall.

1)If you take into account the volunteer work that is necessary to administrate a small hall and a larger hall, and match those totals against the income generated, the larger halls cost less per square meter to run than small halls (of comparable construction). ie it takes almost as many volunteer hours to run a small hall as it does a much larger one, yet the larger one provides more income because it attracts more hirings and can host bigger, more profitable events. Witness the ACP pig roast last summer, which made more than £600 profit and, using borrowed marquees, furniture and crockery, catered for more than 100 villagers - 95% of the tickets sold went to villagers, not 'outsiders'.

2) An expensive (poor value) building is one which wastes resources such as power, volunteer hours or opportunities to earn revenue - and which does not provide sufficient service for its user community.

The current hall is therefore a very expensive building for such a small community with no other community meeting place besides the church.

It is resource hungry, poorly sited for vehicles, almost unusable for the unaccompanied disabled and not on mains sewerage. The village precept is more than a thousand pounds a year more because of its insurance alone as the hall is not hired enough to pay for this.

Conclusion:

The ACP proposal for a larger, more profitable and sustainable hall which complies with the Disability Discrimination Act, has already been presented to the village and the village voted to award it a substantial grant. While this award does not assume approval of the detail of the proposed building, it is a resounding indication of the will of the village to spend its money on a new hall. But as I said earlier, the ACP must wait for funds anyway, and a full consultation, including the children of the village, would be of benefit if it quelled the fears and doubts of those who are opposing the project.

We are very fortunate that funding deadlines have changed the situation to the benefit of all, giving the PC time to consult on the details of a new hall and to make a start on the provision of better sports provision at the current hall. The ACP/PC looks forward to a dialogue with all residents, young and old, over the final plan for the proposed new hall and the upgraded sports facilities. It will be interesting to see how it will all fit in the larger scheme of a Parish Action Plan.

Thank you for your patience and support

Sue Forward

Chair of the Appleford Community Project