Village hall could be saved as residents step in

Albury Parish Council will run the hall for another six months while residents try to find a way to stop it from closing

The closure of a village hall in Surrey has been temporarily halted while residents try to find a way to save it.

Albury Parish Council said last month it could no longer afford to subsidise the hall because "in short, we would have run out of money", and so would be closing it in December.

Residents have since formed a community group and say they hope to work with the council to reduce running costs, boost advertising and raise funds to keep the hall open.

The chair of the parish council Stu Bevan said: "It's a real opportunity for everybody to get involved and make it what it should be, the heart of the community."

The parish council rents the hall from the Duke of Northumberland and spends between £4,000 and £11,000 on running it each year, with costs expected to exceed £6,000 in 2026.

Plans are already being drawn up by the residents' group.

It is understood the community group will work with the council to develop plans to make the hall financially viable.

Julian Harley, leader of the group, said: "There is a view it's not promoted correctly and that some efficiencies that could be made."

Mr Bevan said he was looking forward to working with the group to find a way of making the village hall a financially-viable community asset.

'Heartening response'

Mr Harley said: "The council are going to run it for six months and during that time a group will get together to work out other ways of bridging the funding gap, but that doesn't mean a group will be running it."

The council has previously said it receives funding of £50,000 each year in taxpayers' money and spends about £30,000 of that on the council's overall running costs, so using £6,000 of the remaining amount just on the hall was not feasible.

Mr Bevan admitted the council "messed up" its communications around the finances of the village hall and should have told the public there were concerns of its future when problems became clear in April.

"But what's heartening is that we can now see the strength of feeling, it's brought everybody together," he said.

"We're going to end up in a place where we make the hall a viable asset."

A spokesperson for Northumberland Estates, which acts on behalf of the duke, said: "We are pleased to be working with the local community to help secure the long-term future of Albury village hall.

"Although our community assets already operate on a concessionary rent, we have offered an additional reduction to support efforts to keep the hall open and accessible for local residents."

Mr Bevan said he hoped the community group would bring "fire power" to the situation and could help with things such as applying for grants to secure the hall's future.