NEW ROWLEDGE VILLAGE HALL
Your Fund Surrey - Have Your Say!
We are seeking a grant of £800,000 from ‘Your Fund Surrey’. The result is due shortly.
Why do we need a new Village Hall?
Rowledge has a thriving village hall community but, sadly, the much-loved 100-year-old building is becoming increasingly-dilapidated. It needs a completely new roof which isn’t possible because the existing timber structure is too lightweight to carry the load, even without insulation.
Re-building on the existing constricted site would still leave us with the current major deficiencies: a kitchen that is too small for catered events; inadequate storage; very limited outdoor space; no on-site parking; no lobby with direct access to cloaks & toilets; no acoustic separation of the large and small halls. Crucially, where would existing users go for up to two years during construction work?
How is a new hall possible?
With no satisfactory way to repair or replace the existing hall, the Trustees were losing hope of being able to keep the hall open much longer. We rely on local volunteers, with no Council support.
It was our good fortune that an excellent site became available on Fullers Road – a perfect size and location close to other village facilities. The site had been refused planning consent for a house. However, after extensive public consultations, Waverley Borough Council supported a consent for a Community Building. A planning application was made for a new hall on the site and Planning Consent was granted in October 2022
After planning, the RVH Trustees were able to buy the site from existing resources at an affordable price.
Where is the new site and what will happen to the existing hall?
The new site is almost three times the size of the existing and fronts onto Fullers Road – close to the Recreation Ground, Primary School and village clubs. It is surrounded by mature trees and has attractive gardens to the front and rear, with on-site parking for twenty-one cars (including three disabled spaces).
We recently obtained consent to build a single detached family house on the existing site. The plan is to pre-sell the old site to a developer/self-builder before starting work on the new hall, but only on condition that we retain possession of the site until the new hall is built. This will ensure seamless continuity for the existing Rowledge Village Hall community
What are the main advantages of building a new hall on this site?
Main Hall
- Net-zero carbon target
- Slightly-larger area – maximising flexibility and taking account of all existing and new users requirements
- Flexible storage facilities for main users.
- Stage that folds up into wall recess.
- Direct access and view over protected terrace and garden.
- Direct access to kitchen and servery.
Small Hall
- Same size as existing Front Hall, with lofted laminated-oak-framed interior.
- Veranda and terrace accessible from footpaths from Fullers Road
- Sliding glass doors out to terrace and garden
- Greatly-improved storage facilities.
Link Block
- Draft lobby/fire escape with access to all areas
- Foyer serving both halls -allowing both to be used for events at the same time with full acoustic separation
- Toilets serving both halls.
- Full kitchen with direct access to both halls and rear service area.
Public Consultations 2021- 2024
There have been three public pre-application events over the past few months:
- 30th August 2021 – Exhibition Tent at the Village Fayre;
- 16th October – Exhibition and public slide show in the Village Hall
- 6th November – Exhibition and public slide show in the Village Hall
- Posting on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, the Rowledge Residents e-mail list.
- A four-page colour A5 leaflet delivered to all Rowledge residents.
- Private views of ongoing village hall exhibition on request over the next few weeks.
- Further four-page colour A5 leaflet delivered to all Rowledge residents for Your Fund Surrey Application
We estimate more than 90% of responses received have been positive, willing us to move fast on this project.
Press the red button below to view the planning application slide show.
Press the back arrow in the top left of your screen to return to the web-site
Frequently-Asked Questions
Press the red button below to view the most frequently-asked questions during the consultation period.
Planning Application
A Planning Application was made to Waverley Borough Council for the new Village Hall on 14th March 2022. It was open for comments until 11th April 2022. We encouraged everyone, for or against, to express their views to WBC.
There were 150 letters in support and 47 against.
The Planning Case Number is: WA/2022/00955 or click on the button below:
Planning Consent was granted on 17th August 2022 by the Western Planning Committee.