29 March 2011
Scrutiny Chairman confirms that committee could find "no record" of a policy to close hall
At its meeting on 28th March, the Braintree District Council (BDC) Cabinet accepted all the recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (O&SC) Hearing into Silver End Village Hall.
These included the "learning points" that in similar situations in the future, the Council should consider
- Greater involvement of local councillors
- Head of Service to be involved at an early stage
- Greater clarity on financial information
- Greater clarity on what communities are being asked to manage ie part of a hall; all of it.
In a second recommendation, the O&SC advised that there should be clarification on the policy for closing halls as "no formal decision appears to have been recorded in the minutes of the Council's proceedings."
Cllr. James Abbott, District Councillor for Silver End said
"We welcome these recommendations, which are very much in line with the concerns we have been raising with regard to BDC's handling of Silver End Village Hall for the best part of a year now.
When Cabinet Councillors stated that closure of the hall was an option "under policy" they had no basis for saying so. The Cabinet has an agreed policy on community halls passed in 2009 and that does not mention closure of halls that are well used, as Silver End Village Hall is.
We also welcome the change of stance of BDC in recent months in that local councillors and groups are now being involved in discussions on the future of the hall. Threats of closure have not been repeated and BDC is at last promoting a more positive future for the hall. There is lots of work to be done to get to that future - including the need for a new heating system (1), but as things stand the situation is more positive.
That said, BDC could have avoided the controversy it caused (2). It should have taken the course of action stated in the O&SC recommendations, because they are really just commonsense. Early open dialogue with the local community could have avoided the proposed draconian hike in fees, which were later withdrawn, and the threats of closure, now dropped."
Cllr. Philip Hughes, fellow District Councillor for Silver End said
"We would like to thank the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for holding the Hearing, as we had requested, and for their recommendations, which we welcome.
The Village Hall is a vital asset for Silver End and could have a much better future. We very much hope that from now on, BDC will listen to the views of local councillors and groups and work with the local community, not against it."
Notes:
(1) The heating system at Silver End Village Hall broke down over several weeks during the winter, causing groups to cancel meetings, including several sessions of the regular pre-school group.
BDC had to resort to bringing in electric heaters to try and get the hall temperature up to a reasonable level.
District Councillors James Abbott and Phil Hughes have repeatedly asked BDC to consider investing in a new efficient heating system with zoning controls as well as to investigate installing solar electricity panels on the roof (this may be going ahead).
(2) In response to the threat of hall hire fee hikes of up to 150% and poor dialogue from BDC regarding the hall, District Councillors James Abbott and Philip Hughes took a petition round the village which was signed by over 800 people.
The Scrutiny Hearing was requested after the Cabinet Member made no recommendation in response to the petition at the September 2010 Full Council meeting.
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