Time is running out for new Hermitage Village Hall

That was the stark warning from the chairman of the village hall committee, Dr John Lawler, after the parish council deferred a decision on whether to cash in on £250,000 from the Public Works Loan Board towards the project.
The parish council raised its precept in 2012 following a referendum in which 56.58 per cent of 281 villagers chose to support the parish council funding a grant towards a new village hall, estimated to cost £1.3m.
And it agreed to apply for the loan provided that a number of conditions were met, including that the project could be completed in a suitable manner and confirmation that costs did not exceed total funds available was provided.
Last year, the parish council acquired the site of the new hall, on land near the sports field off of Pinewood Crescent, from West Berkshire Council along with £225,000 to maintain the site.
Speaking at a parish council meeting last week Dr Lawler urged councillors to advance the project without further delay.
He said: “The residents agreed with a thumping majority, and the council raised the precept accordingly; and yet here we are two years on with the village hall still unfunded and the parish council arguing the toss.
“The argument put forward for the level of parish council scrutiny is that it’s “public money”, and [the village hall committee] have provided and are continuing to provide a huge amount of data to support this, but at the end of the day, it’s not public money, it’s Hermitage residents money. The same residents who voted for the new hall at your referendum. The same residents who voted for the sale of the old hall. The same residents who elected this council into office to represent their views and wishes, and whose money you’re already collecting.
“Shortly your application to the Public Works Loan Board will expire, and it’s hard to see how another application would succeed when you’ve failed to make good use of this one.”
Dr Lawler, who is also a parish councillor, said that Greenham Common Trust, which has agreed to match fund the £250,000, had said that the scheme was a well managed prestige project that would be a huge asset to any village.
The project faces further pressure as planning permission expires in November this year and the site of the old hall in Newbury Road has had an offer of £810,000 to help fund the new building.
Parish councillor Margaret Goodman said: “I have fretted and not slept about this because I don’t think this should be an emotional decision. I feel this council has a duty of care and a decision can only be made based on hard facts or figures and not whether someone outside the parish council thinks it’s good.
“We laid down two conditions and as far as I can see they’ve not been met at this stage. We need to get this sorted by the next meeting. I feel like I’m banging my head saying I want more information but I’ve got to be satisfied that this is what we’re going to get and this is not what we’ve been told.”
The parish council resolved to have an urgent meeting with the village hall committee, including the architect and quantity surveyor, to obtain the information required to make a decision about the grant, which has to made at its next meeting on Thursday, March 20 or hold an extraordinary meeting before the grant expires on April 3.