PARWICH.ORG

We have received a post from Keith Parsons expressing his personal views about the Memorial Hall, which we have printed in full.  In the interests of balance we have included some relevant responses and they are at the bottom of the post.

I know the loyal villagers of Parwich are all supposed to be enthusiastic about the proposed new village hall. But you can count me out. (1) I offer a photograph of the Village Hall’s flowering Rowan tree opposite my house. It looked brilliant in the Bank Holiday sunshine, but the plan is to destroy it and the other trees on the site. Who wants a concrete jungle? Not me.

In due course – if it were to survive that long – the red fruit clusters of this Rowan tree (and its neighbour) would feed the village’s many blackbirds. (2) It is a wonderful sight we shall be denied once  the trees are destroyed to make way for an inadequate car park for the new oversized hall. Yes, oversized – 67% bigger – at the cost of existing parking spaces – and these trees. (3)

Who would guess that this is a Conservation Area, when the existing greenery can be vandalised without the Peak Park even minding about it! And by the way, even after the destruction of this village centre foliage, the car park will still offer less than half the car parking spaces normally required by the Highways Agency for new village halls. Far fewer than at present. It is stunning that the proposal ever received planning permission. (4)

I shall continue to vehemently oppose the new village hall and I know many other people will, too – even if many are unwilling to speak out (for whatever reason!) Why else would there be vacancies for representatives on the Village Hall Management Committee?  (5)  

The shame of it is that, even without the Lottery Grant, the money raised so far would be sufficient to do a good refurbishment job on the existing hall. (6) Then the play group need not be deported to the cricket pavilion for a year, and the film club and other users could continue with only minor inconvenience while the loos and kitchen were updated etc. (7)

I know some people disagree with me, which is their right. But just look at the trees we shall be losing…..
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1. The Memorial Hall is being built as a result of a democratic vote taken in 2004.

2. A full landscape plan is in place including the planting of new trees in the hall grounds to encourage a wide diversity of wildlife. We will have a green site and definitely not a concrete jungle.

The Horticultural Committee has indicated that their contribution to the redevelopment of this site would be the provision and planting of trees and shrubs.

3. The footprint of the new hall site is obviously no bigger than that of the old site. What the plans do is to make better use of the space, by increasing the size of the hall to incorporate storage, which is currently housed in external sheds. The plan for the hall, after hours of consultations with user groups will ensure that it is fit for purpose, for all.

4. Peak Park granted planning permission after full consultation with the Highways Agency and other relevant bodies. 50 enthusiastic members of our community attended the meeting at Bakewell to hear this discussion and the outcome.

5. Constitutionally the Memorial Hall Committee still contains more user group representatives than is recommended. However the committee felt that as many user groups as possible should have a voice, so after taking advice from the Derbyshire Village Halls advisor, it was agreed to increase the numbers on the committee. Vacancies on the committee are published and left available to ensure that all user groups have an opportunity to represent their group’s views. The committee even with vacancies still has more members than is constitutionally required.

6. All bar £15,000 of the funds raised so far were granted on the basis of a new build and not for a refurbishment. The community vote in 2004 elected for a new build and not a refurbishment.

7. “Pre-School are happy to be deported to a temporary location, we are very excited about the prospect of a new Memorial Hall as it means that when we return we will have much needed and improved facilities; including a better storage area, an outdoor play area, a floor that doesn’t splinter the children, not to mention the new kitchen and improved toilet facilities!!!” Chair of the Parwich Stepping Stones.