WEYBRIDGE
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Weybridge Hall
Community want to keep the Hall open for local use
On 8 December 2010, a Conservative majority in Elmbridge Borough Council voted to make an 'efficiency saving' of £17,000 (by terminating the management contract with DC Leisure), after 'Relocating as many hirers as possible from Weybridge Hall to the Weybridge Day Centre'.
This will effectively end community use of the hall.
The decision has upset many people who currently use the Weybridge Hall and do not want to relocate.
Sudden proposal
The proposal for the 'efficiency saving' appeared out of the blue, as a single line in a spreadsheet presented to the 24th Nov 2010 Cabinet meeting. There was no hint of the proposal at the various meetings of the EBC Community Facilities Task Group in October and November (attended by EBC Cabinet members), even though the task group was explicitly looking at community halls, their management, and their value to the community.
Not 'closed', simply not to be used by the community!
Elmbridge Borough Council leader Cllr O'Reilly is adamant that no decision has been taken to 'close' Weybridge Hall. However, the decision by the Conservative majority in a vote at Elmbridge Borough Council on 8 Dec has the effect ending Weybridge Hall's current community use, through 'relocating hirers'. The word 'close' has been very carefully avoided.
What can you do?
If you are interested in joining the protest against the ending of community use of Weybridge Hall, please contact Graham Winton on 01932 253653
December 2010: Weybridge Hall: outcry over plans to end community use
Graham Winton and Members of Weybridge Old Folks Club outside Weybridge hall
Weybridge Liberal Democrats are campaigning to . On 8 Dec 2010 Cllr Miles Macleod pressed in Council for disclosure of the full reasons behind Elmbridge Borough Council's rushed decision (based on secretive Cabinet discussions) to "relocate as many hirers as possible from Weybridge Hall" and to terminate the management contract for the Hall in order to make a budget saving.
Lib Dem Cllr Miles Macleod (Weybridge North) put forward a motion to full Council to refer matter for proper scrutiny before making a decision on the Hall, and forced a vote on the issue. But the proposal for proper scrutiny of the issue was defeated by Conservative councillors who voted for relocating the hirers of the Hall.
Elmbridge Borough Council leader Cllr O'Reilly made it clear that the intention is to end the Hall's current use by the community. He said "Our view is that we will be successful in either transferring all the present users of the Weybridge Hall to the centre or to facilities close by". This is recorded in the minutes of the council meeting, in his replies to questions from Cllr Macleod (see the extract appended below).
If the intention is to explore ways of enabling the community to manage the Hall in future, as Cllr O'Reilly suggests (in 'a process of engaging the community to perhaps use the hall'), then it seems perverse to start by getting rid of all its current paying hirers.
: Lib Dems maintaining pressure for proper scrutiny
Lib Dem councillors are determined to get to the truth behind the decision to stop people hiring the Hall.
Cllr Macleod asked the Elmbridge BC Portfolio holder for Leisure and Cultural Services (Cllr Jan Fuller) about the future of Weybridge Hall at the January 2011 Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting. But Cllr Fuller said she was no longer the person to ask (although she lists Community Halls among her responsibilities), and he should ask the Portfolio holder for Resources. Sad to say, this implies that Weybridge Hall is now not seen as a community leisure and cultural facility, but as a property asset.
Promise of consultation
We await the promised consultation.
. We must push to get the best possible outcome for our local community, and I am determined to keep the pressure up on this issue."
, with the Conservative Leader defending his wish to transfer all users away from Weybridge Hall, in response to a question from Cllr Miles Macleod who first highlighted the issue (which was buried in a spreadsheet of budget proposals which went before the Cabinet on 24th November 2010), followed by other councillors putting their questions and views.
Extract from
ELMBRIDGE BOROUGH COUNCIL
MINUTES of PROCEEDINGS at the MEETING of the COUNCIL
held on Wednesday, 8th December, 2010‘Among the budget reductions which Cabinet considered and approved at its 24th November meeting, for inclusion in the draft budget and service plans or 2011/12, was a budget saving of £17,000, described as a ‘low risk efficiency saving’ to be achieved by ‘Relocating as many hirers as possible from the Weybridge Hall to the Weybridge Day Centre’. Can the Leader explain the rationale behind this proposal? ‘
DC Leisure have been made aware of the proposal and the rationale is that we currently pay DC Leisure £17,000 to manage the facility and it is that amount that we are saving, so we would receive the income from the hirers. It is hoped that the facility will be better than Weybridge Hall and it will give the Council the opportunity to review the future use of the Hall. I believe that with this proposal that will help make the Weybridge Centre facility even better for the residents of Weybridge and its surrounding areas.
I thank the Leader for his response. I support the Weybridge centre but I wonder how aware he is of how the Weybridge Hall and the Weybridge Centre offer very different – and complementary – facilities to the local community, which appeal to different kinds of users ? The Hall is in a very visible location and offers a large and flexible open space with a hard floor, while the centre is mainly carpeted space with a lot of furniture, including dozens of solid tables. Many people who hire the Weybridge Hall, and it was hired for 2063 hours last year, do so for activities that specifically require the space and the hard floor, or its visible shopping street location. So my question is, to what extent was the community consulted in framing this proposal to relocate hirers, and how does the proposal take into account the specific benefits to the community of the facilities that Weybridge Hall offers ?
I thank Councillor Macleod for his supplementary question. Our view is that we will be successful in either transferring all the present users of the Weybridge Hall to either the centre or to facilities close by that can accommodate that. That is our expectation and clearly that will have to happen before we can complete the process with DC Leisure. I think there are proposals of plans possibly to enhance the Weybridge Centre itself. So I believe that overall we will be able to get something that’s better than the current arrangements. That the current users of the Hall will be able to be either relocated to the centre or elsewhere and that we will have a better, more effective, more useful, more popular centre in itself and we can then consider, in consultation with Ward Councillors, what the future of the Hall will be.
If we cease to pay DC Leisure the £17,000 that they require to manage the facility and if we are successful in persuading the hirers of Weybridge Hall to transfer, we will have Weybridge Hall without any management and without any customers. Do we then close Weybridge Hall ?
I thank Councillor Sadler for the question. It’s too early to say. As and when the Hall becomes vacant from its current uses, that’s the time when the process of consultation with Ward Councillors and the community as to what future the Hall has, would be undertaken.
What future does the Hall have without management and without customers ?
We don’t know at this stage who might be interested in the community itself. In Molesey we are trying, hopefully with some success, to get the community to manage at least one of the Halls. There’s no reason at all why in Weybridge, a similar process of engaging the community to perhaps use the Hall could be viable, but at this stage, I can’t give any assurance as it will take consultation with the community and local Councillors as to what the future of the Hall will be.
We have a contract with DC Leisure but it does seem to me that it was subsidising DC Leisure in some way, but I did understand that depending upon the income they received, if it went beyond an amount then some came back to the Council. If that isn’t the case, then it seems ridiculous that we are subsidising a private company in this way.
I thank Councillor Eldridge for his question. The contract with DC Leisure was not undertaken by this Administration and my understanding is that all income goes to DC Leisure and none comes to the Council and that is obviously a cause for concern.
I have listened to Councillor O’Reilly and I heard him say he had chosen his words with great care and I heard hope, belief, view and expectation. It seems to me that this proposal has been very ill-thought through, is based on very little in the way of concrete fact and information and really it ought to be withdrawn and taken back to be re-thought. Could the Leader please give us his assurance that this will be done ?
No, I will not give the assurance.
The Leader did mention the experience of Molesey in his remarks as a reason why this is a good idea. Can I just remind Councillors that we have two halls in Molesey – Vine Hall and Mole Hall whose future is still in doubt. Would the Leader not agree that the experience of Molesey shows how unwise it is to pursue this sort of action without proper consideration and I would urge him to reconsider Councillor Courtney’s request and that this is at least referred back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for consideration.
As I have said before, there is no way that I’m going to recommend returning this for re-consideration. It has been well thought through, it makes a saving to this Council. I believe firmly that it will enhance the Weybridge Centre and it will be a benefit to the community in Weybridge.
Does the Leader not agree that it is nonsense to close the successful Hall, just to save £17,000?
I did not say it would be closed, I said we will be considering all options. No decision has been taken and no decision will be taken without good consultation, as has always been the case, with Ward Members for Weybridge.