Copsale Hall Improvement Project Copsale Hall Over one hundred - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Copsale Hall – Improvement Project

Copsale Hall • Over one hundred years in Copsale • Arrived second-hand in Copsale in 1907 (old cricket pavilion from Dulwich) • A community facility, registered as a community asset • Used by local people for local events • Enthusiastic committee • High Utilization • Isolated position • Registered Charity

Copsale Hall Recent Improvements ( within last 15 years ) • Updated kitchen • Extended storage area • New floor to the main hall area • Windows replaced • Decoration to interior and exterior

Copsale Hall Concerns with the existing facilities • Kitchen - too small • Roffe Room – difficult to heat, uneven floor • Store – cold and prone to leaks and condensation • Toilets – outside in the cold, requires regular painting, subject to condensation and would be costly to heat • No disabled toilets, limited access for wheelchair users • Heating – during the winter the hall is cold and takes time to heat up

Copsale Hall Our Project The trustees aim to improve the Hall without losing its historical heritage and charm by providing the following: Disabled access Disabled toilet facility Indoor toilets – male and female Increase in storage capacity Enlarged kitchen Flexible entertaining/meeting room arrangement Improved Insulation

Copsale Hall Planning Permission and Building Regulation Approved • Retain main historical Hall • Remove old tired warn out ad-hoc buildings, store, toilets, kitchen and meeting room • Extension to rear

Copsale Hall

Copsale Hall Competitive Tendering A tender pack was issued with a full itemised schedule of works . Three tender returns were received and a local company was selected. The cost to is shown to be £205,455.00 plus VAT. We took advice about the VAT element and because the improvements are for an extension, VAT will have to be taken into account. Total funds required with VAT = £246,546.00

Copsale Hall Finances • Copsale Village Hall has sound finances - income from hirers and from trustee organized events. • Surplus at the end of 2018 of £26,569 . The forecast for the end of 2019 is £34,000 . • The Hall’s finances will further improve when the Hall is provided with facilities to enable disabled access, indoor toilets and insulation during the winter months. • However, funding from other sources is required to realise our improvement project.

Copsale Hall Funding Organisations A number of funding organisations were approached and many hundreds of pages of documents and spreadsheets were produced. The following funds are those besides local councils that we are actively working with- • Leader Rural Development Fund – an EU fund administered by WSCC and Rural Payments Agency. • Biffa fund – Administered by the Wildlife Trust • National Lottery – Community Fund • Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) – reviewer is AiRS

Copsale Hall Funding Constraints • Leader Fund – They require a % of the total grant funding to come from private sources. There has to be a correct mix of public/private funding. • BIFFA fund – they will only fund projects less than £200,000. Changes had to be made to bring down overall cost and use volunteer labour to finish the decoration & re-use kitchen equipment etc.

Copsale Hall Funding Constraints contd. • National Lottery – they require changes to some of the lease clauses. Knepp (Landlord) expect us to pay for their legal costs. • ACRE – This scheme was introduced by the Government after the last budget to specifically help village halls to pay for the VAT element. It requires a change to increase the overall term left on the lease to at least 21 years. We have a letter of agreement from the landlord to cover this issue.

Funding Source Funding Application stage Response expected requested Lost unable to Full forms submitted and Sept 2019 Leader Rural Development via £74,572 obtain match reviewed awaiting only match funding & WSCC - EU fund Brexit. funding indication. Sussex Community Foundation £5,000 Forms Submitted. Awarded £5,000 If match funding BIFFA Forms all reviewed, delayed until Nov 2019 £75,000 not proven then match funding is available. Will go application process will have to re-start to Nov approval panel if match from the initial step 6-month process. funding proven. Submission passed initial reviews Oct 2019 National Lottery Informed that it has £100,000 been awarded with now going to final reviews conditions.. Second stage forms submission. Dec 2019 Action with Communities in £31,670 Match funding is required for a Rural England (ACRE) decision. Recorded in Parish Council Available from Local council grants £7,633 minutes and letter from HDC commencement of works.

Copsale Hall Current Position Total Project Cost with volunteer labour = £198,000 Funds secured: Copsale Hall = £30,000 Sussex Community Foundation = £5,000 Nuthurst Parish Council = £5,000 HDC S106 = £2,633 National Lottery = £100,000 Current total is £142,633.00 Shortfall = £198,000 - £142,633 = £55,367

Copsale Hall How can the Parish Council help? Each grant organisation requires match funding to be in position before making the final decision on an award. Our shortfall is shown as £55,367 which will be adequately covered if we are successful with the Biffa fund and/or ACRE, both of which are close to their final determination. However, they will not go and determine the award unless they are assured that match funding is in position.

Copsale Hall ACRE via their Village Hall Information Service have produced the document Parish Council help for village halls . The document outlines some of the ways which councils can assist financially. • Obtaining Match funding is a chicken and egg situation; • The PC may be able to assist us with breaking this impasse; and • It may be that a loan obtained by the PC for Copsale Hall, which could come from the Public Works Loan Board as explained in the ACRE document, may assist.

Copsale Hall • The Public Works Loan Board offer favourable rates of interest to local authorities and length of term 10 to 50 years. • Application for any loan must first gain approval from the Secretary of State . • Application forms are available.

Copsale Hall Proposed actions that the PC can take: 1. A letter of intent from the PC to state that they are actively looking into providing a facility to provide the match funding assurance. 2. Start the process of investigating a loan to support your Village Hall.