Financing the proposed new Village Hall
There are three Elements of the proposed new Village Hall:
(1)The “Social Element” which includes the main Hall and associated Kitchen, Storerooms and Toilet facilities.
(2)The “Sports Element” which includes changing facilities for home and away teams (or male and female teams), referee’s room and tea/meeting room.
(3)The “Shop Element” which is a community-style Village shop of 80 square metres that could be built when there is sufficient support for such a facility.
Costs & Funding of the Social Element
A Quantity Surveyor’s estimate (including a deflation index for 2010) for building the Social Element is: £336,000 plus fees & VAT (note: VAT should not be payable by the Parish Council).
The Working Group suggest that this might be reduced by lowering the figure of £30,000 for site works used by the QS to £20,000 as £10,000 was included by the QS for demolition of the existing Hall whereas the cost is thought to be nearer £7,000.
Revised Total = £326,000
Fees are approximately £40,000
(Architect 7.5%; QS 2.5%; H&S 1% = 11% of total costs; plus site survey and drawings: £1K)
Demolition of existing Hall: = £7,000
Total = £373,000
Contingency: at 10% - a minimal figure given the uncertainties involved = £36,000.
so Total Costs for building the Social Element = £409,000
Proposed Funding:
(1) Loan of £300,000.
It is proposed that the Parish Council apply for a loan from the Public Works Loan Board of £300,000. Currently these loans are available to Parish Councils at the very favourable rate of around 4% per year over 25 years (repayable via the Precept at £18,000 to £20,000 per year). This rate is dependent on the currently exceptionally low interest Base Rate, which could increase at any time if the Bank of England decides to change it. It is therefore important that we apply as soon as possible after the Village has given its support to an agreed building scheme and planning permission has been obtained for this scheme from WODC.
(2) Parish Council earmarked Village Hall funds of £30,000
Total = £330,000
So there is a Funding gap of £79,000 (£409,000 less £330,000).
There may be some funding from previous fund raising attempts in the past still held by clubs and groups and these are being further investigated but they are unlikely to amount to large sums even if they are still available.
The funding gap could be reduced to £29,000 if we applied for and obtained a PWLB Loan of £350,000 (rather than £300,000). (However, this is somewhat uncertain as previous advice obtained from Oxfordshire Association of Local Councils - who must first approve a loan request before an application can be made to the PWLB - indicated that, for a Village of the size of Freeland, £300,000 is possibly the maximum that we might be granted).
As the application for a loan must show that, together with the loan, we would have sufficient funds to cover the expenditure proposed, the remaining funding gap of £29,000 would have to be found from donations/previous fund raising/general Parish Council funds before any application for the loan could be made.
Costs & Funding of the Sports Element
A Quantity Surveyor’s estimate (including a deflation index for 2010) for building the Sports Element is: £160,000 plus fees & VAT (note: VAT should not be payable by the Parish Council).
Fees are approximately £18,000
(Architect 7.5%; QS 2.5%; H&S 1% = 11% of total costs)
Total = £178,000
Contingency: at 10% = £18,000.
Total = £196,000
Proposed Funding:
It is proposed that funding for the Sports Element would come from fund raising, principally from sports-related granting bodies. See:
http://www.sportengland.org/funding/funding_sport_in_the_community.aspx
Such fund raising might not be completed rapidly, raising the question of what changing facilities would be in place during that period. One option might be to leave the existing changing facilities and toilets of the existing Hall in place until fund raising had been completed. This (visually unsightly) option might be possible for the currently proposed site for the new Hall but it would not be without some additional cost, as it would involve reinstatement of the electrical, water and probably sewage connections which would be broken during demolition of the existing Hall.
Costs & Funding of the Shop Element
A Quantity Surveyor’s estimate (including a deflation index for 2010) for building an 80 square metre Shop is: £73,000 plus fees & VAT.
Fees (at 11%) would be approximately £8,000
(Architect 7.5%; QS 2.5%; H&S 1% = 11% of total costs)
Total = £81,000 + VAT
Contingency: at 10% = about £8,000.
Total = £89,000 + VAT
Proposed Funding:
Funding for such a shop would need to combine commercial funding and/or special grants that might be available for such community shops. See, for example:
http://www.oxonrcc.org.uk/activities.php?smid=35