VILLAGE HALL NEWS SHEET July 2010

Welcome to the July update on what is going on with the new village hall.
Since presenting to the Annual Parish meeting at the end of May, we have continued to make good progress over the past few weeks, so here is where we are, what’s happened and what’s planned.

SALE OF ASSETS
• The Parish Council has accepted an off er, which met our valuation, for the old community hall and we expect to complete this deal around the end of July

• The trustees has also accepted an above valuation off er for the two housing plots in the corner of the playing field and also expect to complete this transaction very soon

FINANCE GRANT FUNDING
• The grant application for the installation of sustainable energy technology for the new hall is almost complete and will be placed by the end of July.

• The Broads Authority Sustainable Development Fund has confirmed that we will be awarded a £20,000 grant for funding of heat pumps inside the building

• In addition, the same fund is considering funding a thatched roof for the building.

• We have a number of other grant applications in hand

• Readers will remember from previous editions that the Big Lottery Fund was discontinued. However, is it now anticipated that this fund will recommence in the autumn but it may come too late for us in terms of when we can start the building works.
We are obviously keeping our options open because the potential for this grant funding is something we do not want to miss out on

DESIGN, PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION
• Our architects have now completed the revised design and layout for building and its surroundings and a revised planning application has been made which we anticipate will be approved early August. Within the design, we have included toilets which are accessible from outside the building, as requested at the Annual Parish meeting

• The Parish Council and Charity Trustees will meet in mid August to finalise the capital financing of the project.
We anticipate that tenders for the construction contract will be invited in late August and believe that the timing of this, in terms of the downturn in the building industry, will work in our favour

HICKLING PLAYING FIELD CHARITY
• Readers will remember that we applied to the charity commission to change the“objects” of the charity in order to allow indoor and as well outside recreation and that we had sold the building plots on the playing field.
This approval was granted, with no objections having been received from the village

• The new facility will be owned and run by the charity, as opposed to the Parish Council, for the benefit of the village

BUSINESS PLANNING
• We are continuing to work on the Business Plan which covers both the capital funding requirements and the running of the new hall and its associated activities. We have been in touch with a number of villages to see what works best and are
confident that, once open, the new hall will not be a financial drain on the residents

• We have the original village survey information and now intend to look upon this to get likely user numbers in more detail

• We agreed very early on that the hall must remain financial viable in the long term and this is why we are proposing to maximise the use of sustainable energy technology; solar, ground source heat and wind.
This will save us upwards of£3,000 per year on electricity and oil costs as we will be energy self sufficient.
In addition, the government will pay us for the energy we generate and this will be a significant stream of income for the new hall

• We still have a capital funding shortfall and are looking at the best way to fund this, probably through the Public Works Loan Board

COMMUNICATION
• The Annual Parish meeting gave the New Build Team the opportunity to present the plans for the new hall to almost 50 residents

• As well as the drawings for the building itself, the timetable for construction etc was presented and our Clean Energy Consultant, Andrew Robertson, took questions on the renewable technology we are proposing

• One resident also raised the issue of the Phoenix Trust funds not all being pledged for the new hall. However, it is important to understand that this fund is not administered by the Parish Council and that a generous amount has already
been pledged by the Trust for the hall.
The Trust has a Member on the New Build Team and is fully supportive of the project.

• As ever, if you have any questions or issues you would like to raise regarding the new village hall, please contact the Clerk to the Parish Council, Shirley Sainsbury, so that they can be put on the Agenda for the New Build Team