Funding of rural community buildings (mainly village halls) and their associated benefits
This research for Defra was undertaken under sub-contract to ‘Rural Partnerships’ (a business arm of the Plunkett Foundation), in association with RCB Consulting, ACRE and many of England’s Rural Community Councils. Malcolm Moseley provided the CCRI input.
The research had two main aims. The first was to establish the principal community value of England’s stock of about 8,900 village halls – e.g. in relation to alleviating social exclusion and promoting social cohesion. The second, to explore various aspects of the halls’ funding, and in particular the local and national sources of funding available and the difficulties experienced by hall committees in writing successful bids. These issues are pressing; over half of England’s village halls will need major funding in the next ten years to remain fit for purpose in a changing context.
Most of the evidence was derived from a postal survey of 445 halls – spread across 14 counties – which explored in particular the capacity, condition and use made of the village halls, their income and expenditure profiles and the various challenges of funding. The social make-up and human capital of the host villages emerged as crucial in these regards.
