14 September 2010
The Cabinet of Braintree District Council tonight agreed to change its policy on fees at Silver End village hall and introduce a blanket £2 per hour increase instead of the draconian increases of up to 150% previously proposed.
This will ensure that most of the local groups can still afford to use the hall and followed months of campaigning by local district councillors and groups.
However, the long term future of the hall is still uncertain. The Cabinet Member with responsibility for halls warned that unless a 3rd party management agreement was in place by March 2011, the hall could close.
Silver End District Councillor James Abbott, who was barred without explanation from speaking at the meeting by the Leader of the Council, said
"We welcome this partial reprieve on the fees issue. The pressure has paid off to an extent. The 3 village groups and the parish council represented at the meeting tonight all spoke superbly well about their concerns.
However, the stakes have been raised with an overt threat now of closure and the BDC Cabinet demonstrated once again that they don't understand the issues in Silver End - and they don't even seem to know their own policy.
The halls policy as agreed at BDC Cabinet on 6th July 2009 does not preclude BDC retaining the management of halls and specifically addresses what the council should do in the event that it continues to manage a given hall ie "market and promote any remaining community facilities under BDC control to maximise income and meet the needs of communities".
Yet Cllr. Schmitt stated tonight that halls without a 3rd party management agreement in place by March next year would close. Cllr. Schmitt knows full well that all attempts by BDC to offload the hall to a 3rd party have failed due to the size of the building - it is simply too large for local groups to run.
Closure would be unthinkable for Silver End. There are a number of long term lease agreements on the top floor of the hall as well as the groups who hire rooms downstairs. It could mean the loss of the Children's Centre, which is a partnership arrangement with Essex County Council, the loss of the long standing Crittalls Social Club, the loss of the use of the building by the Post Office and the Parish Council, as well as closure to all the local groups who hire rooms downstairs.
Quite simply, I don't know what Cllr. Schmitt was talking about. She clearly does not understand the local situation.
We will be presenting our District Councillors petition with 836 names at Council on September 27th and also raising this matter at every available opportunity until the administration at BDC agrees to secure the long-term future of Silver End village hall - the largest village hall in the country and a building given to the residents of the village by Crittall in 1931."
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