Agenda item

Reconsider plans to demolish the URC Hall on the Old River Lane site in Bishop's Stortford

Minutes:

Councillor Goldspink proposed the following motion on notice:

 

“This Council resolves to reconsider its plans to demolish the URC Hall on the Old River Lane site in Bishop’s Stortford. Instead, it will, either repair and refurbish the Hall or, if it is not practicable to refurbish it, The Council will build a new, equivalent Hall somewhere else on the Old River Lane site. This would be in accordance with policy CFLR8 of the Local Plan.”

 

The motion was seconded by Councillor Wilson.

 

Councillor Goldspink spoke to the motion and said the United Reform Church Hall was a well-used community hall in the town centre of Bishop’s Stortford. It was used regularly by different community groups including badminton, table tennis, yoga, mothers and toddlers, Alcoholics Anonymous, Pilates, karate etc. The hall was also available for private hire and it seated 200 people with a stage. She questioned why the council wished to demolish the hall and said the council’s own policies were against demolition. Councillor Goldspink referred to Policy CFLR8 in the Local Plan which stated the loss of community buildings would be refused. Members were told previously that the original vision of the Old River Lane site would remove the car parking and replace with community facilities. Now, the building was going to be demolished and replaced with car parking. Councillor Goldspink felt this was a bizarre proposal and she was calling for a replacement facility.

 

Councillor Williamson responded to the motion presented. He reminded the Council of the key points. Firstly, the Full Council voted to proceed with the Old River Lane regeneration with the published plans on 18th March 2021. Secondly, the United Reform Church Hall was sold to the Council by the Church as part of its own plans to improve the community offerings. The present hall needs considerable repair work and upgrading to be suitable for future use. Therefore, he proposed an amendment to the motion. He proposed to delete all wording and replace with the following:

A) The Council Notes that:

1.               The Old River Lane regeneration offers the opportunity to create strong community and arts facilities for Bishop’s Stortford. The current Old River Lane regeneration plans agreed by Full Council on Thursday 18th March 2021 are sufficiently flexible to offer the opportunity to work with third parties to deliver additional community facilities.

2.               Given the current condition of the URC Hall it is not practical to repair and refurbish. The Council’s plans for the Old River Lane generation are compliant with CFLR8 of the East Herts District Plan 2018, satisfying both conditions (b) and (c).

 

B.   Therefore this Council resolves to:

1.    Work with local groups during the planning process and the pre-development marketing of the available space to provide additional community facilities as part of the ongoing re-generation of Old River Lane. These facilities could include a community hall, community spaces and/or space for the delivery of community services. The Council will include the URC in this engagement to explore with them their plans for using the capital money the Council provided to them through our purchase of the hall.

2.    Continue work on the Cultural Strategy which was agreed unanimously by Full Council on 2nd March 2021. Future workstreams to be undertaken include taking an inventory of publicly and privately owned facilities within Bishop’s Stortford which can be used by community and arts groups; furthermore to discuss with Hertfordshire County Council to ensure local groups can access facilities at state schools outside of school hours.

3.    Continue investigations into whether the cinema spaces within Old River Lane can be designed to allow larger capacity live performance events to be held on site.

4.    Support the Old River Lane re-generation plans”

 

Councillor E Buckmaster seconded the amendment and reserved his right to speak.

 

Councillor Bell said that the United Reform Church Hall was a popular facility and there was no provision proposed to replace it. The plans for an 80 seat cinema which could occasionally be used were not an adequate replacement for a venue with a 200 seat capacity. The Council should be championing participation in the performing arts and she implored the Council to find adequate provision in Bishop’s Stortford for these groups if redeveloping the hall is not feasible. This should be done in consultation with local groups to ensure the facilities are for local residents as opposed to progressing blindly without their input.

 

Councillor Goldspink welcomed the improvement for consultation but was still concerned that what is being proposed was not an adequate replacement for what was being lost. Some of the hirers currently at the United Reform Church Hall would not be accommodated in the new facility and these were groups that play badminton, table tennis and yoga. At the last meeting, the Council were told that a 200 seat theatre was not possible so Councillor Goldspink asked if the Council were now proposing a community hall for hire that would accommodate 200 people. 

 

Councillor Williamson said they were looking at all the options to provide the best facilities across the town and would engage with different local groups.

 

Councillor Snowdon said that Councillor Goldspink was offered a seat on the Old River Lane Delivery Board but turned it down. He said she was a ward member in Bishop’s Stortford and could have been in the room when decisions were made. He was disappointed that she had turned that opportunity down and was now trying to score political points.

 

Councillor Goldspink raised a point of order for a personal explanation. She explained that she was offered a seat but decided to offer it to Councillor Beckett who was also a Bishop’s Stortford ward councillor. She said if the Liberal Democrats were only allowed one seat, she felt Councillor Beckett was better qualified to attend the meetings.

 

Councillor Wilson said he welcomed the amendments from Councillor Williamson but questioned the timing of it and why it took a motion from the opposition to come up with the compromises. He provided some history to the project and said there had been inadequate consultation since the changes had been proposed. He said he understood why the theatre had to be abandoned and welcomed the fact that the Council were looking at consultation and other options and hoped that lessons had been learnt.

 

Councillor E Buckmaster said when he saw the proposed motion, he questioned the integrity. He said the Church was willing to dispose of the hall and it was clear from the church website that they had ambitions to create a new modern space. He said the Council had been inclusive in its approach with briefings and workshops open to all groups and members of the opposition group had a place on the Old River Lane Delivery Board. The business case for the project was reviewed after the pandemic and the Liberal Democrat motion has come as a standalone item with little or no attempt at prior engagement. There was little context to the motion with no funding proposals. The amendment proposed by Councillor Williamson gives the council a way forward and allows them to embark on a delivery mechanism for an engagement strategy. The amended motion gives the council more to work with moving forward.

 

After being requested by at least five members, a recorded vote was taken on the amendment, the result being:

 

FOR


Councillors Alder, Andrews, Bolton, Boylan, E Buckmaster, R Buckmaster, Burmicz, Curtis, Cutting, Deering, Devonshire, Drake, Fernando, Goodeve, Hall, Haysey, Hollebon, Huggins, Jones, Kaye, Kemp, McAndrew, McMullen, Newton, Page, Pope, Ranger, Reed, Rowley, Ruffles, Snowdon, Stevenson, Stowe, Symonds, Ward-Booth, Williamson, Wyllie

 

AGAINST

 

Councillors Bell, Brady, Dumont, Goldspink, Redfern, Wilson

 

ABSTAINED

Councillors Beckett, Crofton, Crystall, Frecknall

 

For: 37
Against: 6
Abstained: 4

 

The motion was declared CARRIED, and became the substantive motion, as follows:

 

A) The Council Notes that:

1.    The Old River Lane regeneration offers the opportunity to create strong community and arts facilities for Bishop’s Stortford. The current Old River Lane regeneration plans agreed by Full Council on Thursday 18th March 2021 are sufficiently flexible to offer the opportunity to work with third parties to deliver additional community facilities.

2.    Given the current condition of the URC Hall it is not practical to repair and refurbish. The Council’s plans for the Old River Lane generation are compliant with CFLR8 of the East Herts District Plan 2018, satisfying both conditions (b) and (c).

 

B.   Therefore this Council resolves to:

1.       Work with local groups during the planning process and the pre-development marketing of the available space to provide additional community facilities as part of the ongoing re-generation of Old River Lane. These facilities could include a community hall, community spaces and/or space for the delivery of community services. The Council will include the URC in this engagement to explore with them their plans for using the capital money the Council provided to them through our purchase of the hall.

2.  Continue work on the Cultural Strategy which was agreed unanimously by Full Council on 2nd March 2021. Future workstreams to be undertaken include taking an inventory of publicly and privately owned facilities within Bishop’s Stortford which can be used by community and arts groups; furthermore to discuss with Hertfordshire County Council to ensure local groups can access facilities at state schools outside of school hours.

3.  Continue investigations into whether the cinema spaces within Old River Lane can be designed to allow larger capacity live performance events to be held on site.

4.  Support the Old River Lane re-generation plans

After being requested by at least five members, a recorded vote was taken on the substantive motion, the result being:

 

FOR

 

Councillors Alder, Andrews, Beckett, Bell, Bolton, Boylan, Brady, E Buckmaster, R Buckmaster, Burmicz, Crystall, Curtis, Cutting, Deering, Devonshire, Drake, Dumont, Fernando, Frecknall, Goldspink, Goodeve, Hall, Haysey, Hollebon, Huggins, Jones, Kaye, Kemp, McAndrew, McMullen, Newton, Page, Pope, Ranger, Redfern, Reed, Rowley, Ruffles, Snowdon, Stevenson, Stowe, Symonds, Ward-Booth, Williamson, Wilson, Wyllie

 

ABSTAINED

 

Councillor Crofton

 

For: 46

Against: 0

Abstained: 1

 

The motion was declared CARRIED.

 

Supporting documents: