8 of 10 respondents to our village survey are in support of building a new Village Hall and Sports Pavilion at the Playing Field
Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey and to share their views with us. The great news is we had 131 responses to our survey which means we have a good representative sample from the parish and user groups outside of the village. The full details of the survey and all the verbatim comments can be found on the HDCC website www.newvillagehall.co.uk
Executive Summary
- 83% of respondents agree that Hadlow Down needs a new high quality Village Hall and Sports Pavilion for use by the whole community.
- The survey has given us plenty of evidence that supports the new proposal, particularly from a wealth of verbatim comments which are centred on the need for new modern facilities, improved access and a “community building’ for sports recreation, social events, education and entertainment.
- Usage of our current facilities has been very similar across both sites with the village hall being used quarterly or more by 46.6% of respondents and the Pavilion 46.1% respectively within the last year. Key reasons for this low usage has been cited as poor access, limited parking, poor toilets and changing facilities in worn out/old buildings.
- The survey data tells us that this usage would increase in the future with better facilities and a broader range of activities. Respondents want to continue with current social events but also want a New Village Hall and Sports Pavilion to provide the community with some new choices for both the old and young, such as baby and toddler groups, after school clubs, adult education classes, gardening club, community cinema, Information Technology, health and well-being, martial arts, sports coaching, art classes coffee hub, office hub etc. These make for an exciting new community space in the village.
- There is clear support from the village community with half of the people surveyed willing to provide their personal time to progress the project in some way, offering word of mouth support, helping with door to door distribution and helping with fundraising and organising events.
- On the other hand, there are still 17% against the proposal. Whilst these respondents currently have low usage of the current facilities their views are still important to us. Their key reasons for not supporting the proposal are that they state that the current facilities are already adequate and the new building would be too large and costly, as well as being concerned that it will bring more traffic and noise pollution to Hadlow Down. Whilst we recognise we may not change their views, we are committed to further consultation and communication for the whole community as we progress.
HDCC is proposing to build a new Village Hall and Sports Pavilion at the Playing Field. The new building will include a much larger main hall, more adequate storage spaces, a meeting room and modern kitchen facilities. Much needed changing facilities, showers, storage, club room and a bar are also planned. There will be parking for 43 cars, including 5 spaces for disabled users, 10 bicycle parking spaces and 20% of the car parking spaces will be fitted with electric charging points.
There will be a public meeting to be held in the Village Hall on Thursday 20th July (7.30 pm) which we hope will achieve several things:-