New Inn Community Hall is facing a major problem. At the beginning of October a complaint was made to Torfaen County Borough Council relating to the holding wall between the pavement on the New Road and the entrance drive to the Community Hall car park.
This was examined by a Surveyor for Torfaen Borough Building Control and issued the Committee with a works order ordering the wall to be taken down and repaired. This as you can imagine caused some very serious concerns as the first guesstimates for carrying out this work was somewhere between £20,000 and £30,000.
This news comes hot on the heels of having to replace the damaged oil tank (for the heating of the hall) which cost over £3300.
The Hall is run by a Committee of volunteers for the Charity who raise the funds to ensure the Hall is maintained for the Community. We maintain a reserve of approximately £5,000 and so these costs would bankrupt the Hall and could lead to the Hall being lost to the Community.
We are still waiting for a full Building Surveyor’s report, so we can get more accurate estimates for the cost of this work.
We have met with the council and they have agreed to monitor the wall and, assuming that there is no movement in the wall, to wait for the reports, estimates, to raise the money, and plans for when this work can take place.
We are looking into grants but have also started a JustGiving Page to help with the costs. See below.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/emily-lloyd-2
The original hall was built by people of New Inn buying a brick and raising the money to pay for the building – can we do something similar now to keep the Hall open? If everyone in the village gives just a little then we can save this hall.
The Hall is home to many groups and has been a central part of our community for over 50 years. The Public Hall has provided an essential facility for the residents of New Inn and for countless village organisations. May it continue to do so for many years to come.