Durham Community Buildings Review
01/11/2011
Durham County Council are currently consulting on the future of Community Buildings owned by the Council, as part of this consultation exercise they are also reviewing the Community Building Grant Aid Scheme (small grants in the region of £250 to £3,500).
The Village Halls Consortium would like Durham County Council to continue supporting the Halls in our area. Our Directors have attended a number of meetings on the review of funding and are hoping that all the halls in the consortium will receive a grant to help maintain and repair the halls.
The report has highlighted inconsistencies in the way Community Buildings receive grant aid and we acknowledge the need to review the current system, which has remained largely unchanged for decades. We feel that the money should be equally shared around all of the community buildings and administered by County Hall, as placing the fund with the AAP’s would lead to halls bidding for their grant, this we feel would end up with the more knowledgeable community buildings getting the lion share of the grant. The grant should also stay as a revenue grant so the halls have the freedom to spend the money in the way that it wishes, and not to ring fence for capital projects.
We feel it is important that the Halls, Parish Councils and user groups contribute to the consultation to show how passionate we are about our community buildings. You can do this in a number of ways, email any comments you have to cbconsultation@durham.gov.uk, complete the online questionnaire by visiting www.durham.gov.uk and click on ‘Have Your Say on Consultation’ and look for the Community Buildings Consultation or write to Community Buildings Consultation, Partnerships and Community Engagement, Assistant Chief Executives Office, Durham County Council, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL.
The Consultation is taking place between 19th September to 12th December 2011 and a final decision will be made by cabinet in February 2012.
We are also happy to assist any hall with a reply, please contact David Hutchinson (01833 640331), Rosemary Thompson (01833 650414) or Gill Robinson (07854566790).
