Village Hall Renewal Project

Consultation responses confirmed that although the current hall is well-used, the age, size and ad-hoc layout of the building mean that it doesn’t offer the range of facilities the community would ideally like.  There was clear support for a project to review and improve the Village Hall facilities and over 50 people offered their services in support of this. The Village Hall Trustees have therefore set up a Steering Group, to undertake more detailed analysis of the responses to the consultation, and to scope out potential options to renew our facilities.

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Partridge Green Village Hall Renewal Steering Group – Chair’s update report, May 2024

Our 9-member group includes professionals in architecture, mechanical engineering, financial and project management (two are Parish Councillors).  Our role is technical, not decision-making: we will present the Trustees with appraisals of the options available – hopefully by mid-autumn 2024.  It will be for the Trustees to decide on ways forward, which is likely to include further community consultation on next steps.  The Steering Group has met twice so far (February and April), and is due to meet again in June. 

The three broad options to investigate have been agreed as:

1. A refurbishment project limited to the current building structure (or footprint);
2. Rebuild in the existing hall car park (currently owned by Horsham District Council);
3. Rebuild elsewhere in the village. The Parish Council-owned KGV field seems a feasible possibility, with the project also renewing existing facilities there. The KGV Sports & Social Club are being consulted. 

Clearly, any new facilities must continue to support current users of the hall, including the Pre-School.   Based on reviewing of the consultation feedback, visits and desk research on other Village Hall facilities in the area, we have agreed a list of key improvement priorities. Environmental sustainability of the future building will be a key focus for all options.

Finance will be critical: major borrowing at current interest rates looks prohibitively costly, and we can’t rely on funds from housing development.  However, we have identified some suitable-looking large grant funding opportunities.  We will also look at the potential to raise funds via the re-development of the existing village hall site. It may prove useful to explore the scope for the Parish Council to take over the car park from Horsham District Council.  

Next Steps

We expect to have worked up outline designs, costings and listing of key pros and cons of each of the options – with a view to presenting our conclusions to the Trustees by autumn 2024.  We know it is important to keep the community updated on the progress of this project; updates will follow on this web page.  As and when the Trustees feel that they have a project option that they can support, we expect that further community feedback will be sought on that proposal.

Owen Richards
Chair, Village Hall Renewal Steering Group