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Area East Committee - 9 February 2011

9. Village Halls Update (Executive Decision)

Portfolio Holder & Ward Member: Cllr Mike Lewis Strategic Director: Rina Singh, Place & Performance Assistant Director: Helen Rutter, Communities Service Manager: Helen Rutter, Area Development Manager East Lead Officers: Tim Cook, Community Development Officer Alice Knight – Third Sector and Partnerships Manager Contact Details: [email protected] or (01963) 435088

Purpose of the Report

This report brings the Committee up to date on recent improvements to village halls in Area East, and the support provided by SSDC.

Public Interest

Supporting and helping to improve the work of voluntary community organisations in the towns and villages across Area East.

Recommendations

(1) To note the report

(2) To allocate a sum of up to £6900 from the Community Grants budget towards the cost of delivering a programme of energy efficiency audits of village halls and community buildings in Area East.

Background

There are 36 village halls in Area East, and there has been a strong tradition of SSDC working closely with village halls to improve their usage through both capital improvements and support for village hall management committees.

Report

Members last received a detailed report of the support that the Area Development team has provided to halls in the area in February 2009. Since that report the following halls have received financial support from Area East.

Village Hall Project Support received

Milborne Port Church House Refurbishment £9400 Village Hall Heating and Windows £6700 Village Hall Solar panels £4500 Charlton Musgrove Village Hall New Hall – Car Park and paving £8200 Village Hall Refurbishment £5000 Hadspen Village Hall Acoustics improvements £450 Village Hall External improvements £750 Village Hall Equipment purchase £250

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Members are aware that small-scale improvements of up to £12,500 are generally funded through Area Grants and larger-scale refurbishments or new halls, have previously been submitted into the County and District Joint funding programme, where grant aid of up to £70,000 could be obtained. There is some uncertainty over the future of the joint scheme with County Council due to make a decision about future funding. A verbal update will be given at the Area East Committee meeting.

National Lottery funding for Community Buildings

Although funding does exist for significant improvement projects (as demonstrated by projects below), there has been very little Lottery funding available specifically for community buildings. In October 2010, the National Lottery announced a new strand of the Reaching Communities programme which is specifically for Village Halls and community buildings. From December 2010, community buildings within targeted urban and rural settings will be able to apply for funding between £100,000 and £500,000. Of the 18 eligible parishes in 3 (Camelot, Cary and Tower) are in Area East.

Successful Projects

Mudford Village Hall Committee and Charlton Musgrove Memorial Hall Committee received support from the SCC/SSDC Joint fund.

Mudford Village Hall - Despite an unsuccessful bid to the National Lottery, Mudford Village Hall completed an extension and refurbishment project providing a new kitchen and meeting room and improving the main hall.

Charlton Musgrove Memorial Hall – Major local fundraising effort enabled the new hall to be built and opened in December 2010. The new hall has been built to a very high standard and is already receiving bookings for meetings, events, parties and wedding receptions.

SSDC has a Service Level Agreement with The Community Council for Somerset who employs a full time Village Halls Adviser. Halls receive a quarterly newsletter; have access to regular specialist training courses and the annual village halls conference.

Most halls in South Somerset are working towards achieving ‘Hallmark’ status – a scheme developed by the Community Council in partnership with the District and County Councils, to encourage good practice and management. Volunteer ‘inspectors’ (from other village halls) visit applicants to look at how their hall is running, and using an agreed set of criteria, judge the hall to be either Hallmark Level 1, 2 or 3. o Hallmark 1 covers charity administration and management, meeting arrangements, governance, accounts, hiring arrangements and insurance. It also looks at the overall appearance of the hall and cleanliness o Hallmark 2 covers health, safety, security and licenses o Hallmark 3 covers community and social awareness, forward planning and development. It also includes disabled access, communication, promotion of the hall

Halls in Area East Halls in Area East with Halls in Area East with with Hallmark 1 Hallmark 1 and 2 Hallmark 1,2 and 3

Barton St David Blackford Reading room Caryford Hall Charlton Musgrove Village Hall North Cadbury Village Hall

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Halls in Area East Halls in Area East with Halls in Area East with with Hallmark 1 Hallmark 1 and 2 Hallmark 1,2 and 3

Memorial Hall Village Village Hall Davis Hall, Hall Hadspen Village Hall St Margaret’s Hall, Mudford Village Hall Horsington Village Hall

Measuring the demand and supply for Village halls and Community Buildings

Officers have been working on strengthening the case to secure developer contributions towards local community facilities and in particular Village/Community Halls.

During 2009/10 we undertook a comprehensive survey with the Sports, Arts & Leisure team to establish the levels of demand and supply for community facilities across South Somerset, with a view to ensuring that when new development takes place, a contribution is made towards improving community buildings where possible.

A postal survey, followed up with telephone enquires has established the current levels of provision in terms of both village hall size and facilities/activities on offer. Through using the same well-established analysis approach (as used for swimming pools and indoor sports facilities, although adapted more specifically for village halls), we hope to be able to establish whether or not there is a gap in provision. The data gathered, along with the infrastructure delivery plan (due to be completed later this year) and evidence available in community plans can then be used to guide negotiations with developers, and will help with other more strategic planning and resource allocation.

Motivate – Health and Activity tour of Village halls

Members will recall that in February 2010, a report by the Healthy Lifestyles Team was considered and support was given for a proposal to take the community bus to rural areas to identify and introduce new activities in halls across Area East. The evaluation of pilot sessions in the summer, along with need identified by the parish youth worker have led to the development of the Motivate tour. Five events (, Milborne Port, Mudford, and Keinton Mandeville) are planned throughout February and March and have been designed to support existing groups, identify new activities to support halls and to encourage new people to get involved in their local community. Health MOTs, advice and Health Walks will be available at all events and support agencies including South Somerset Voluntary Community Action and Somerset Rural Youth Project will be available to give advice and guidance but the focus will be on opportunities to get involved in the local community.

Energy Efficiency Audits – Helping Halls to Help Themselves

Research carried out by Acre identified volatile energy prices as a significant problem for halls. As heating and lighting are one of the principle running costs, community buildings are particularly vulnerable to energy price rises. A number of hall committees have expressed the desire to reduce running costs by improving the energy efficiency of their community facility and Members will recall that a grant was recently awarded to Barton St David towards installing solar panels.

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Officers have worked with the Community Council for Somerset to produce a project plan with costs of surveying halls in Area East and providing reports to each hall committee on measures that could be taken to reduce costs/generate income through energy efficiency and production.

Each hall will need to be assessed to establish suitability and viability for the various measures that could be taken to improve energy efficiency. The report would include measures to improve efficiency (improved heating controls, double-glazing, monitoring electricity/gas use, energy saving lighting, insulation, self-closing doors, draught proofing etc) and electricity generation including wind turbines and solar panelling. The age and construction of buildings are key considerations as even installing the simplest of energy efficiency measures such as insulation can cause problems in old buildings with solid walls.

The Proposal

The Community Council for Somerset will undertake energy audits of community buildings in South Somerset Area East. The audits would be undertaken by a nominated person from the Community Council for Somerset who has received training to undertake such energy audits.

Each audit will consist of a site visit and review of relevant equipment; access all areas of the building and a review of recent energy bills. The information gained on the site visit will then be written up with recommendations of energy saving opportunities and signposting to relevant websites for renewable energy and energy saving products.

It is anticipated that the average time to undertake the site visit and produce each report will be 7 hours work (based on experience of others in other areas of the country).

The budget:

1 day (7 hours) @ £250 per day x 36 halls = £9000 Training of energy auditor (NEA training) = £1500

The Community Council for Somerset will ask for a contribution of £100 per hall from the halls – 36 x £100 = £3,600

The Community Council for Somerset is requesting the balance of £6,900 from South Somerset District Council.

It is hoped that all village halls will participate in the scheme but in the event that some decide not to, audits will be offered to other community facilities.

An audit of all halls in Area East would provide useful information about the scale of potential savings and income generation and could also provide good evidence to support bids for external funding.

Financial Implications

The Community Grants budget currently has £9256 available to support voluntary and community groups in Area East. If members agree the above recommendation it will leave £2365 available to allocate as small grants (under £750) before the end of the financial year.

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Corporate Priority Implications

Supporting village halls makes a significant contribution towards the corporate plan by:

• Improving the health and well-being of our citizens • Ensuring safe, sustainable and cohesive communities • Promoting a balanced natural and built environment

Carbon Emissions & Adapting to Climate Change Implications

• Providing access to good quality, local activities through maintaining a local hall reduces the need to travel which therefore reduces carbon emissions.

• Encouraging halls to improve energy efficiency and investigate the potential for sustainable electricity generation will contribute towards reducing carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuel generated, grid electricity resulting in carbon savings of tonnes per year.

Equality and Diversity Implications

Supporting Village Halls and Community facilities increases access to activities for all.

Promoting Hallmark Scheme helps to encourage good practice in terms of accessibility and inclusion

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