The Clerk and HPC are aware of recent letters in the Contact magazine and would like to reassure residents that there is no plan or intention to deprive either the church or the Games group of any of the rights or facilities they currently enjoy. There appear to be several misunderstandings around this decision to make a temporary move to overcome issues raised by Covid and social distancing, maintain the access to the office for residents and enable the staff to work together in reasonable conditions when possible/necessary.
It is correct that we have considered making a move into the East room in the past, to give the staff members access to both toilets and the kitchen, because there is a lack of heating in the office. During the winter the door is often open as people visit, making it also very cold at times. There is also diminishing space due to the required documentation that must be stored. The current space makes it difficult to properly hold meetings with residents, contractors or Councillors, and there is no privacy.
This is being considered as a temporary move now as we are heading into winter and all of this is being exacerbated by the needs of Covid and social distancing, plus the wish to keep the office open as often as possible and to give free access to residents that has been very valuable to both residents and HPC.
Discussions will be or have been held with the Games Group and church representatives, as we seek to make this clear and to reassure them that no facilities currently available to them will be unavailable or withdrawn because of this move.
The Games Club will continue to enjoy all of the facilities they have been using for the past 3 years – this has been held exclusively in the middle room in that time. Nothing will change in that respect once the hall is able to open again for that use. It has been mentioned about loss of recreational space, in reality the swap would equate to a minimal change but the shapes of the room is where the working benefit is yielded.
The Church will see no change to their own ability to use the hall for all the purposes that they have rights to and in the same way as they do now. There will be no change to that now or in the future.
It was agreed that all of this will be discussed with both parties in order to answer all questions are answered and reassure them in relation to all of these aspects of the proposed move at this time, and before any actions are taken. The consultation with the games element is underway and a reply is awaited.