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New
Village Hall Proposals - The Facts
[posted
13/08/2008, updated 16/08/2008]
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| Radley has been offered a new village hall
and sports field. Despite the inadequacies of the existing
village hall and uncertainties over its future, the proposals
have however received a mixed response. |
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Background
Radley
Village Hall was erected in 1977 on the former
site of the Radley College vegetable gardens as a
replacement for the much smaller village hall built
in Lower Radley in 1924/25. The houses next to the
Village Hall in Gooseacre were built subsequently,
as were the other houses nearby with the exception
of the houses owned by Radley College along Foxborough
Road and some cottages in Norfolk Close. The hall
was extended in the 1990s to provide an additional
area at one side, a refurbished kitchen and a disabled
toilet.
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| The
land where the Village Hall stands and the adjoining
playing field are leased to the Village Hall Management
Committee and the Parish Council by Radley College,
for a small annual rent. There are 28 years left to
run on this lease (from the end of the year). The Village
Hall Management Committee of volunteers is responsible
for the Hall, its upkeep and hire (not the Parish Council).
The separate sports pavilion on the playing field was
built by Radley football clubs and the Parish Council,
opening in 1999. The playing
field and sports pavilion are available for hire
from the Parish Council. |
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During
2007, complaints about noise from the Village Hall
led to the Vale of White Horse District Council
imposing a Noise Abatement Order and requiring work
to improve the Hall's sound-proofing. An appeal
was launched in August 2007 to help raise the
money.
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| New double-glazed windows and sound-proofing
panels were installed during autumn 2007 and the Noise
Abatement Order was revoked. The Parish Council effectively
underwrote the funding for the soundproofing, with additional
funding being provided by the Vale of the White Horse
District Council and others. However, conditions imposed
by the district council means it is no longer viable for
the Village Hall to operate a licensed bar – a previously
important source of revenue. |
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| A
new village hall?
Given the
concerns about noise and the age of the existing building,
the Parish Council set up a Working Party in October
2007 in a long-term project to advise on the feasibility
of a new Village Hall and to look at needs over the
next ten years and beyond. |
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| During discussions
about the future, Radley College suggested the possibility
of providing a new village hall with integral sports
pavilion and two playing fields on a site next to Radley
Primary School on Church Road. But to wholly fund this
project, there would need to some new housing on the
current Gooseacre site. |
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| Both sites involved
in this proposal are in the Oxford Green Belt, and it
would require dispensation from the Secretary of State
for any development on them to take place. This means
that the plan can succeed only with the support of the
people of Radley. |
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| A
well-attended, and at times heated, public meeting called
by the Parish Council was held on Friday 11 July to
hear the details of the proposal and to seek initial
views from parish residents. Opinion was divided. Some
people saw merit in the proposals. Others, mainly from
the immediate locality of the existing facilities, were
strongly against the move, with views expressed against
both building houses on the Gooseacre site and the suggested
location of the new village hall. |
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The
Save Radley Campaign
This campaign
is opposed to the development in Gooseacre and locating
a new village hall near the school. A leaflet outlining
the campaign's arguments was distributed to Radley
households during early August 2008. The leaflet claims
that the proposal masks an attempt to change Radley
into a suburb of Abingdon and calls on residents to
stop Green Belt erosion and ‘say NO to a new Abingdon
suburb'. The campaign can be contacted at:
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Save
Radley Campaign
5
Norfolk Close, Radley
Tel:
01235 539700
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| The
Facts
So
what are facts about the Village Hall and the proposal
by Radley College?
1.
Radley needs a new, better and bigger village hall.
The existing village hall is well past its sell-by
date. The money recently spent on it is a stopgap.
A lot more would need to be spent to maintain the
hall well into the future. Even if considered cost-effective,
no source of such funding has been identified. As
things stand at the moment, the existing village hall
cannot pay its way.
2.
The existing playing field is oversubscribed. Additional
playing field space would also benefit the community.
3.
Radley College has offered to provide Radley with
a new village hall with integrated sports pavilion
and land capable of accommodating at least two football
pitches, and the freehold to both. The value of the
offer, as it stands, is estimated to be in excess
of £1 million.
4.
However this offer is conditional upon Radley College
obtaining permission to develop the land currently
occupied by the existing hall and sports field. This
does not include the land beyond
to the south accessed from Thrupp Lane, which is currently
also used as a sports field.
5.
Both sites – the site of the proposed new hall and
the playing field in Gooseacre – are in the Oxford
Green Belt.
6.
Planning permission to develop either site would be
contrary to planning policy with respect to the Green
Belt. Therefore planning permission is extremely unlikely
to be given unless the development can be shown to
be of benefit to the local community and has significant
support from that community. The Parish Council has
no powers over the planning issues and the need to
defend the Green Belt from development is a paramount
consideration of the local planning authority (VoWHDC).
7.
Even if the money could be raised (a large six figure
sum) to create a new village hall on the current site
in Gooseacre, the existing site is unsuitable. It
is too near to housing and the site is not large enough.
A new hall meeting the desired specification would
have a much larger footprint, which would probably
mean building on the existing car park (already inadequate)
or on the playing field (making it unusable for football,
etc). Green Belt policies would still be an obstacle
to this option. In addition, the shortness of the
remaining term of the lease from Radley College would
not justify the level of investment required to create
a new village hall on the Gooseacre site.
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The
next step?
Following
the public meeting, the Parish Council will be considering
the Radley College proposal further. |
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The
Parish Council currently has an open mind with regard
to the proposal and is unlikely to come to a view until
the details have been fully set out and the general
view of the whole parish is known. The Parish Council
has no intention of going against the majority view
of the parish. |
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| While supporting the proposal in so far
as the benefits of the new hall and sport field are concerned,
the Parish Council has reservations about the proposal
to develop the existing sports field. The Parish Council
is a member of the Oxford
Green Belt Network and would almost certainly not
wish to breach Green Belt policy so as to create a precedent
that might allow general development on other Green Belt
sites. |
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Your
views are wanted
The
Parish Council is interested to hear the views of residents
on the Radley College proposal and on the future of
the Village Hall in general. Please send them to:
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Sally
Raven, Clerk to Radley Parish Council
9
Cleveland Drive, Cowley, Oxford OX4 3HA
Tel:
01865 774776
E-mail:
clerk@radleyvillage.org.uk
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