Meeting of the Village Hall Management Committee Trustees
25th February 2009

At a meeting of the Trustees on 25th February, the Village Hall Management Committee voted unanimously to reject the offer of £55,000 from The Massey's Folly Preservation Trust (MFPT) to purchase the Village Hall.
On 24th July 2008 the Village Hall Management Committee (VHMC) received a letter from Roger Pearson, Chartered Surveyor, acting on behalf of MFPT, stating that in his opinion, £55,000 represented the current open market value of the Village Hall freehold interest. This opinion was not an offer to purchase.
On 29th September, we wrote to MFPT, saying that if it intended making an offer to purchase the Hall, we would not just need to know the offer price, but also the other principal conditions of the sale. The VHMC was concerned to understand the mechanism by which MFPT would be proposing to acquire the property and then transfer it back to the VHMC once the refurbishment works had been carried out. In particular, we needed to know:

• What legal estates MFPT were proposing purchasing from and transferring back to us;
• The price at which, or the mechanism for determining that price, VHMC would have to re-purchase the VH after refurbishment;
• The plan for providing a Village Hall whilst the refurbishment was being carried out and
• What safeguards for the Village Hall would be put in place, in the event that MFPT could not complete the refurbishment as intended

On 16th October, we received an offer to purchase the freehold interest in the Hall by MFPT for £55,000, but none of our concerns had been answered.
On 21st January at the VHMC meeting, we were advised that the response would be sent to the Committee at the same time as appearing in the Village magazine, and we would have to wait until then.
On 3rd February, we received the response, which essentially said that there were three options:

1. For the VHMC to re-purchase the Hall at the then prevailing market value
2. To have a "perpetual Licence" (a term which created confusion as Licence is a personal contractual right to occupy space and not ownership of land)
3. A full repairing lease

CONCLUSION

MFPT could not offer any safeguards for the Hall in the event that the project was not completed "other than a determination to preserve the building and its use as a village hall". If MFPT were unable to complete the works, for whatever reason, the Hall would be lost to the village, as the FVHMC would have no funds to buy back the part restored building, having only been paid for half of the building, in poor condition.
The Committee discussed the matter at great length at its meeting on 25th February. We felt that if we were to sell to the MFPT at the offer price of £55,000 we would have nothing like sufficient funds to build a new Village Hall (for which in any case we do not at present have a site).
By the same token, nor would we have enough funds to buy back the existing Hall once it had been fully refurbished. Neither MFPT nor VHMC can suggest what might be a reasonable repurchase price at this stage, but the difference is likely to be substantial.

The MFPT alternative suggestion of a long lease, with the premium and annual rent depending on whether or not we accepted a full repairing obligation, is subject to the same uncertainty and the same doubt that our limited financial resources could meet the extra cost.

Although EHDC would probably raise no objection to the temporary presence of a Portakabin while the Hall itself was out of use, as suggested by MFPT, this too would be expensive. Moreover, it would probably not meet the needs of Te Aikido, the country dancing group and the keep-fit class, who are our main regular sources of income.

As Trustees, we have an obligation to preserve the assets of the Village Hall Management Committee. The only significant asset is the Hall itself. It is most unlikely that the Charity Commission would agree that any proposal on the lines MFPT suggest would comply with our obligation.

We were also mindful that the survey we carried out showed very strong support throughout the village for the Village Hall to be sold and a new Hall built at a new location. Although no new location has yet been finalised and the very difficult economic climate means that this is a goal for the medium rather than the short term, we shall continue to pursue opportunities for such a move as and when they present themselves.

In the meantime, the Committee has decided that the only responsible course of action is to continue operating and carrying out essential maintenance on the Village Hall ourselves, and to put in hand such small programmes of redecoration and improvement as our resources permit - hopefully with some assistance from grants. To do otherwise would be an unacceptable risk.

PARISH MAGAZINE - ANONYMOUS STATEMENT

Status of Village Hall This did not come from VHMC and contained much ill-informed comment.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

1. We will be looking at the possibility of dividing the area to the right of the front entrance, from the main Hall to provide a separate room, which will be easier to heat and will provide a meeting place for smaller groups.
2. We are planning to improve the décor of the Hall.
3. We are hoping to improve the heating system, so that the Hall will be warmer. We do not intend to replace it as this is too costly, bearing in mind our intention to sell the building for re-development in the medium term.
4. We are having plans drawn up to show how the Hall could be divided up for residential use. The cost is being split with J M Osborne, managing agents for the owners of the other side of the building. Our intention is to obtain residential planning permission to maximise the value of the building, thus meeting our obligations as Trustees
5. We are continuing to assess possible locations for a new Hall. We accept that because of the economic downturn our aim of selling the Hall to a developer must be put on hold until the market recovers, as we need as much cash as possible to build a new Hall.
6. We will be running fundraising events from time to time. Look out for the jumble sale on Saturday 24th October and the Farringdon Pantomime!

Farringdon Village Hall Management Committee

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