Lottery winners Update – last draw – Christmas Market 2019:
- Paul Presler (prize £161)
- Bill Hunter (prize £121)
- Bob Spencer (prize £35)
We are delighted that some of our winners have chosen to donate their winnings to our fundraising efforts – our thanks to them.
As you know we are now Fundraising in earnest for the first phase of building costs. We estimate we will require in the region of £1.2mto complete the build. The Community Centre Lottery will be one of many ways we hope to achieve this figure. There are three draws annually: at the Spring Market, the Village Fayre and the Christmas Market. If you would like to join the Lottery Club and contribute towards building our new centre please contact me and I will send you details.
Janet Tourell – Email: jtourell@btinternet.com
Current Activities
Various sections of the committee are working on the following tasks:
Business Plan
Vitally important to justify grant funding and sustainable operation for the new hall. Bob Lake is working on this.
The current draft is incomplete as it includes no data with regard to build costs. These can be arrived at only when we have a design for the proposed building, have agreed on the materials to be used and method of construction. Currently MJB Architects is working on producing this for us. Bob is working towards securing external funding through various Community Support Grants.
Charity Status
Charity status now obtained. Read more
Our application for Gift Aid status is in progress. Donating through Gift Aid means charities and community amateur sports clubs (CASCs) can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you give. It will not cost you any extra.
We are also setting up a Just Giving page. This means that you will be able to support us through your own fundraising efforts or simply by making a donation directly to us. Watch this space for further announcements.
Grant Applications
Early days on this. Rachel Lewis will be reporting on possible sources in due course.
Fund-raising
We are looking to hold several fundraising events this year. If you would like to be involved in organising and planning events, or volunteering your time in any way please contact Sarah Prall sarahprall@btinternet.com
Another big step towards having our new hall
Isn’t it fantastic when one receives good news? At a recent meeting of Wealden’s Planning Committee (North) our project was granted full planning permission and unusually the consent will last for five years rather than the customary three. So now we can turn our attention and efforts towards raising the princely sum of approximately £1.2 million. Clearly, we don’t have anyone in the parish that has that sort of money lying around so we need to get busy applying to organisations such as Sport England, the Football Foundation, the Big Lottery Fund and several charitable trusts. Also we might wish to consider organising some major fund-raising events.
Chair, HDCC Committee
Planning Application Update
Given the delay being experienced with regard to our planning application for the new community centre/village hall, we would like to bring you up to speed with the current situation.
Application WD/2018/2655/MAJ was submitted to the Wealden Planning Authority during the week beginning 3rd December 2018. After some initial delay largely due to a requirement that we provide a Noise Assessment (Survey), the consultation period for the application opened during February and closed on 15th March 2019. We received over 55 supporting statements/comments from Hadlow Down parishioners and users of both the existing hall and playing field.
We are hoping that the application will be considered at the next meeting of the Planning Committee (North) due to be held on 30th May; however, we are not sure if this might be postponed given the results of the recent local elections and the fact that membership of this Committee will not be confirmed until a meeting of the full Council on 22nd May. If this is to be the case, we would hope that the application is considered at the scheduled meeting for 27th June.
Of course, this is really frustrating but as we are sure you appreciate, the matter is out of our hands and we will have to wait to see what unfolds.
The Trustees
Hadlow Down Community Centre
CONSULTATION PERIOD NOW OPEN
We have been allocated our PLANNING APPLICATION NUMBER, and the consultation period is now open. The consultation period will end on 15th March 2019.
WD/2018/2655/MAJ
you may comment here
https://planning.wealden.gov.uk/plancomment.aspx…
( Firstly you will need to click to accept the disclaimer, you will then be re-directed directly to the comments form for our application)
It is crucial you, as villagers have your say. Please register your comments at the Wealden Planning Portal. This is a very important stage in the planning process and the outcome of the application will be hugely determined by the amount of local support provided. We need as many residents as possible to respond with letters of support.
Our thanks to all of you who have supported the project to date, we have until 15th March to comment directly on the Wealden Planning Portal or by letter. All the planning documents are available here on our website. If you, or anyone you know, has limited or no internet access and would like paper copies please contact Bob Lake on 01825 830857.
PUBLIC MEETING UPDATE
The public meeting held by the Hadlow Down Community Centre Committee on Monday 3rd December was an important landmark in the development of the project for a new village hall and sports facilities.
The purpose of the meeting was not only to share with parishioners the design of the building and invite comment but also to map out future milestones; the most important being the lodging of a full planning application with Wealden District Council. This was submitted during the same week and although being led to believe that the validation period would be completed within approximately three weeks, we are still awaiting Wealden to do so.
In the meantime have had to have a Noise Survey undertaken (£1960 inc VAT) and payment of an additional planning fee of £462.
Now we are awaiting notification from Wealden Planners with regard to the beginning of the three week consultation period. As soon as we are informed, we will let you know; this is a very important stage in the planning process and the outcome of the application will be hugely determined by the amount of local support provided. We need as many as possible to respond with letters of support and we will advise nearer the time on how you can do this.
Finally, we know that the capital sum to be raised will be in the region of £1.2 million and we will need help in so many ways – marketing and promotion, fund-raising via modest and ambitious local events, fund-raising via social media platforms such as Just Giving, Crowd Funding, through donors, company giving and grants. If you feel that you can help, please don’t hold back and lend us your support.
In the meantime, why not have a look at the Lottery page and for a minimum of £12 annually, you could take part and provide some financial support for the project?’
Thanks,
Bob Lake (Chair)
FINAL PUBLIC MEETING
At last we are at the stage when the planning application can be submitted to the local planning authority. But, before doing so, the trustees would like to conduct a final community meeting. Its purpose will be to share with you the design and lay-out of the proposed building, details of the planning process and timescales, anticipated cost and how we intend to raise the funding. It is important to us that as many people in Hadlow Down are involved. We do hope you will join us.
WELCOME
Welcome to the news and comment pages for the New Village Hall. Here we plan to keep you up to date with all the developments in our efforts to fund and build a wonderful new hall for our community. We would love to hear your thoughts, please feel free to comment.
Further to your feedback at the public consultation meeting this summer, the plans for the new village hall have been revised. You can view the new plans on the PLANNING page of this site.
The combination of a newly designed village hall, the green outdoor space and the new children’s playground will provide an all encompassing meeting place for families and residents, enabling events such as village fetes, children’s parties, clubs and family events (enhanced by the grassed area outside), together with the existing and new village hall activities. The sports facilities will also be much improved including better changing rooms and showers.
Internal accommodation will be flexible enough to encompass existing social and sporting activities whilst providing space for new ones.
External space will be improved to include a picnic area, new play area, whilst retaining the existing football area and cricket wicket.
It is the hope that this will become a social hub for the village which the present village hall, with its size and outside facilities constraints does not allow.
Just in case you missed the meeting in the summer, the brief we are working towards is summarised below
Sports Pavilion: To include:
- 2 team changing rooms (11 per team plus subs) – min. 16 sq.m each
- 2 shower areas
- 2 toilet areas
- 3 officials changing rooms
- kitchen
- storage and circulation
- Total Approx. area = 100 sq.metres
Village Hall: To include:
- Main Hall (including fixed stage area) – min. 225 sq.m
- Storage Rooms – min. 50 sq.m
- Committee Room – approx. 50 sq.m
- Entrance Lobby
- Male and Female W.C’s (including disabled facility)
- Changing Rooms – approx. 40 sq.m
- Kitchen – approx. 20 sq.m
- Total Approx. Area: 425 sq.m
Want to get involved?
This is a huge project and we would welcome anyone who shares our goals to come and join the committee. If you have experience of a similar project or have expertise in fund-raising, publicity, planning applications, building or just “good at getting things done”, we would love to hear from you. Could you help with the more practical aspects of the building and the design? Have you a trade? Plant and equipment? Know about renewable energy? Low carbon design? Perhaps you would like to make a donation? The list goes on… e-mail us at info@newvillagehall.co.uk or leave a comment here.