ETTINGTON COMMUNITY CENTRE
Villagers in Ettington will tell you that an idea of a new village hall goes back many years, perhaps as far as the 1960's. Certainly there are records of a charity being formed by a Mrs. Mobberley in the 1970's for this purpose, but fundraising was always a problem. Then in 1993, along came a windfall as a large piece of farm land lying to the rear of the existing village hall was included within the village envelope for permissible development. The Village Hall sat on the access to this land from the main road !
It took a good while for the development land to work its way through the planning system, and produce a replacement village hall. Would it be built by the developers? Who would provide the land ? How would it all be financed ?
The existing building was a temporary wartime arrangement right on the main Banbury Road, which had served the village well within its limitations for many years but which had become outdated, and had no proper parking. It was owned by a charitable trust registered with the Charity Commission and the Trustees were therefore limited in their powers of disposal. The negotiation of two-way options with the prospective developers of the residential site in respect of both the village hall itself, and the now famous visibility splay by the main road, was therefore inevitably a complex process.
Ettington Parish Council had the unenviable task of unravelling all this and bringing the project forward, and along with a sub-committee, struggled manfully with the difficult issues involved. On the scene came a lawyer living in the village who would bring some clarity to the legal issues and assist in moving things on.
By now a site had been found for the new village hall to be located on the corner of the existing village playing fields in Rogers Lane owned by the Parish Council, but needing some land from an adjacent landowner. We discovered that the playing fields are criss-crossed by public footpaths and hence the need for a complex and time-consuming process of diverting them. The proposed building was moved nearer to the centre of the playing fields to give it the space it required. Problem; where were people going to play ? A local family kindly donated an adjoining field for the village playing fields, and a lease was negotiated.
In 1999 options had been signed by the Village Hall Trustees with a house builder the future benefits of which are largely mandated to the project after the preparation of a business plan to show the integrity of the project. A complex section 106 planning agreement was negotiated between parties to the residential housing site which would ultimately provide a commuted sum of £165,000 towards the new building, to be paid in stages as it is constructed.
Here lay the Catch 22, because everybody involved agrees that the existing building cannot be demolished and therefore the proceeds of sale cannot be realised until there is a new functioning community building. How is this overcome? Our research had revealed that other village hall projects had borrowed funds from a government body called the Public Works Loan Board, borrowed by the Parish Council on the security of future Parish precept. In Ettington's case, this loan could be repaid out of the proceeds of sale of the old village hall site to the housebuilder.
All this time, extensive consultation had been going on in a village of over 400 households and over 1,000 people, including public meetings, newsletters, a scale cardboard model of the building, and in late 1999, a detailed questionnaire recovered (in fair weather and foul) from 57 % of the households in the village, (which we were told is a remarkable recovery rate). The responses to this questionnaire gave an overwhelming affirmation that the proposed facilities were what the villagers wanted, and a useful social profile of the village.
The Business Plan, the consultation and a written presentation went to the National Lottery Charities Board regional office in Birmingham, but because of the continuing uncertainties over the timing and financing of the project (which was still entirely dependent upon the (absence of) progress on the residential development site), the application could not succeed. A further application is currently in hand to the new "Community Buildings Team" of the Community Fund.
However, another village Committee succeeded in a Sports Lottery fund application for some £50,000 to build an all-weather playing court, which was constructed near to the site of the new Community Centre, and which has now been electrified for full use.
Bi-monthly meetings of the Parish Council and even regular meetings of sub-groups were not sufficient to progress a project of this size and complexity. In February 2000, a new private charitable Trust was formed called "Ettington Community Trust" with the villagers as its beneficiaries and with a constitution which enabled it to take the commercial decisions required. The arduous process of registering with the Charity Commission was successful. This would also help to gain the confidence of the various project funders as well as crucial tax savings, such as exemption from vat on the construction costs - a huge saving.
A long lease of the grounds of the proposed new building was then granted by the Parish Council to the embryonic Trust. The Parish Council also entered into a Deed of Covenant mandating the proceeds of the Section 106 Planning Agreement and the Public Works loan to the project.
Outline planning permission for the new building had been granted many years before but now was the time to bring forward a detailed planning application. The support with set up costs given by the existing Village Hall Trustees and the Parish Council was crucial. Much discussion took place about building procurement. Would it be a traditional contract tendered out to a number of contractors, or would it be "design and build" by one builder? The Trust could simply not afford to assemble a professional team for running a traditional contract. Invitations for expressions of interest therefore went out to some 12 building contractors, some of whom came back with initial rough costings which ranged up to £1.4 million ! Back to the drawing board. Ultimately, a short list of three put in formal submissions, and then we partnered with Buxton Limited based in Birmingham. In an interesting initial meeting, the costs were slashed, but at the cost of a number of facilities. A quantity surveyor appointed by the Trust as project manager has also played a pivotal role.
In the consultation stages, we had information about, and talked to several other village hall projects ranging in value from £150,000 to £1.7 million and we learnt invaluable lessons:-
1. Be organised and professional.
2. Consult, listen and learn.
3. Income-producing facilities.
4. Get your sums right.
5. Include enough storage.
6. Know your budget and stick to it.
7. Be lucky!
We had therefore designed into the building a number of "teleworking office spaces" on the first floor which were intended for use by local people for their businesses. The first floor was also to contain a residential flat, probably for use by a caretaker. Because the budget was slashed, the whole of the first floor had to be put on ice because the ground floor community facilities had to come first. We are now making a Lottery application in order to finance the development of the first floor.
Detailed planning permission was granted without objection in June 2001. The developer's option on the visibility splay had been exercised and (after a change of developer), the residential site began to be built and so the money was available. After a number of false dawns, countless ups and downs, even more countless meetings and not a few scares along the way, Ettington would have its new community centre.
Building work started on site in April 2002 and the keys will be handed over at the end of February 2003, giving the village facilities which are second to none :
- a magnificent large main hall for events, functions, indoor sports, arts productions and concerts, with a stage and separate stage changing areas and "green room",
- a separate bar lounge area and snooker room,
- fully fitted catering kitchen,
- a separate smaller hall for other activities,
- dual outdoor sports changing rooms with walk-in shower areas,
- a management front office, disabled toilet
- an IT room (application made to BT Connections for free IT equipment)
- and of course (as we were told to) masses of storage space !!
A new management Committee has now been formed, sub-divided into separate working groups for fundraising and marketing/PR and the new building is set to be launched very shortly.
There will be an Open Day and a party on Saturday 29th March for the village to let its hair down and see the new facilities which we hope will serve Ettington long into the next Century.
If you are reading this and thinking about building a new village hall then we would be happy to share our experience with you. We won't say "don't do it" but be prepared for a few learning curves.
The village website (www.ettingtonvillage.co.uk) contains photos of the building, including aerial shots, and information updates.
P. JAGGARD
SECRETARY TO ETTINGTON COMMUNITY TRUST
February 2003
Roll of honour/thanks go to the following:-
Ettington Parish Council
Trustees :- Liz Lyall, Steve Kendrick, Mike McCormick,
Jonathan Allen, Patrick Jaggard
Ettington Village Hall Committee
Ettington Village Hall Trust, particularly to Peter Nicholls
Buxton Limited
Andrew Marston, Quantity Surveyor
Ken Hutsby and family
Wilson Connolly plc
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