CRCC has provided a specialist advisory service to village halls and other community buildings since 1946. Unfortunately, due to funding constraints this service is currently being delivered on a basic level while a new, financially sustainable model for service delivery is developed. In the meantime, we still provide support and respond to your phone, email and postal enquiries. However, in order to achieve this as well as developing the new service the following caveats will temporarily apply:

• It is unlikely that we will be able to attend meetings.
• Advice will, of necessity, be concise and, to ensure that we can help everyone, we will not be able to enter into protracted correspondence or support
• You may experience a slight delay in response to your query – we would however aim to make an initial response within 7 working days
• For certain enquiries, we aim to identify other appropriate sources of advice or support and signpost you effectively to these services.

Thank you for your patience and support while the service moves through this period of transition.

Village halls, church and chapel halls and other "community centres" provide a vital local resource for the villages and parishes they serve. Most are registered charities run by committees drawn from the local community which manage and maintain them on a voluntary basis. A wide range of activities take place in these buildings and provide a mechanism for personal contact where others may have been lost (eg shop, school, post office). In this respect they play their part in helping communities retain their sense of community identity.

Financial Sustainability for Community Buildings (250kb)

There are a number of issues which affect most, if not all, management committees responsible for village halls and community centres. To help provide you with a quick response to your enquiries here is a range of summary sheets relating to the more common issues. They aim to give you a brief overview of the topic and sources of further information. A hard copy of the information is available on request. Feedback relating to these resources is welcomed and I would particularly like to hear of your own experiences.

Environmental Sustainability (170 KB Download)

Disability Access and Awareness (160 KB Download)

Fire Safety and Risk Assessment (145 KB Download)

Governance (120 KB Download)

Licensing (150 KB Download)

Project Development and Funding (145 KB Download)

We have a series of publications which provide advice and information on the diverse range of issues faced by hall management committees. These publications are developed by national village hall experts and legal advisors through ACRE to provide concise and up to date information. ACRE (Action for Communities in Rural England) is the national umbrella organisation for the 38 rural community councils across England. To view the list of available publications and the order form click on the link below.

Community Buildings Publication List (45 KB Download)

The Impact of Investment in Village Halls

The purpose of this survey is to analyze the impact on village halls, and the communities using them, arising from various levels of investment for capital improvement projects. It compares hall use prior to investment, with changes following development. It will be seen that the information gained illustrates the immense and long-lasting benefits that are brought to communities through capital investment in village halls and other community buildings, and can be used to assure new and potential funders that putting money into village hall projects is a long term investment in our rural communities.

Key Findings

The overall impact of the project investment is shown in the following figures:

• Monthly bookings increased by 268%
• Weekly bookings increased by 176%
• Occasional bookings increased by 70%

These are total figures taken from the 30 halls surveyed. It is consistently shown that investment in a village hall results in significant increases in its usage. In the comments section of this report, one can also see the increase in diversity of use of the hall and new populations served.

The Impact of the Investment in Village Halls (475 KB Download)

The CRCC provides a long established Community Buildings Advisory Service offering help in the following areas:

• Charitable status and registration
• Interpretation of trust deeds and establishment of new trusts
• Legislative requirements
• Licensing obligations
• Successful management
• Product design and management
• Funding advice