BASRAG and Berryfield Village Hall

The Berryfield and Road Action Group continue to work residents by maintaining the existing village hall, and running events at various times of the year for the whole community.

The village hall’s temporary planning permission ends in December of this year, and a permanent outline planning application has not been granted because of the proposed routing of the Wilts and Berks canal through Berryfield. This has been rather difficult for BASRAG because the line for the new canal has not been safeguarded officially and no planning application has been submitted for the line of the canal. Council has suggested a further three years temporary permission for the hall pending such an application for the canal. In the meantime the existing hall is deteriorating and is already past the end of its expected lifetime. Our worry is that the hall may become unusable before progress is made on the canal, and a replacement hall is provided as part of development in the area.

The hall has continued to be used by the community, although the closure of the Homework Club because of the end of funding has been a disappointment. Funding issues also caused the new Toddlers group to close.

BASRAG continues to run community events, although this Christmas, as last year, severe weather caused the cancellation of the Santa Run.

BASRAG, like all such community groups, relies on its volunteers for its success. If you are interested in working for BASRAG, you can contact Gill Arbery, Steve Petty or Richard Wood via the Without Parish Council.

RICHARD WOOD