Wimbledon Park Hall Minutes of a meeting held in the Council Leader's office at 6.00 pm on Tuesday 1st July 2003

Present: Cllr Andrew Judge (Leader) LBM
Steve Clark Head of Panning, LBM Iain Simpson Chair, Wimbledon Park R. A.
Marcus Beale Chairman Wimbledon Civic Forum
Tariq Ahmad Cllr Wimbledon Park Ward
Oonagh Moulton Cllr Wimbledon Park Ward
Stephen Saul Committee, Wimbledon Park R A
Paresh Modasia Committee, Wimbledon Park R A
Chris Mountford Head of Technical Services, Leisure Services, LBM

Summary
This meeting was arranged by Andrew Judge Leader of the Council to discuss the future of Wimbledon Park Hall and find the best way forward for all concerned. After much lively but friendly discussion it was decided that:
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We should try to achieve a solution that made a positive contribution to the street scene, provided a new community facility that met local needs and made a contribution to the wider unmet need for community/public hall facilities in the area. Those present from Wimbledon Park should draw up a business plan, which would reflect the properly identified needs of the community and the most suitable type of facility that would meet those needs. The Council would then endeavour to incorporate this expression of community needs in the planning brief for the redevelopment of the site. It was further agreed that the Residents group would aim to have that business plan with the Council by the middle of September. Once the planning brief was ready a further meeting would be called to consider the proposals.
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Opening remarks and background
The Leader opened the meeting by saying that the Council had decided to close the Hall as a result of the findings of the Best Value report (not completed or published) This report was a survey of all Council owned properties in the borough and determined in particular the usage and maintenance costs of all the community halls. Constantly reducing budgets over the years now rendered it impossible properly maintain those halls and buildings which were not regularly used and producing an adequate income.
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According to the Leader there was a maintenance backlog of £ 2.7 mln. Wimbledon Park Hall was a prime target for closure due to being underused and estimated to be very costly to bring up to standard. As a result the Council wished to sell the site for redevelopment. He did however emphasise that he and the Council had agreed that the capital receipts from the sale could not be ring fenced for reinvestment in Wimbledon Park as had been previously requested but would be ring fenced for community purposes. He clarified this by saying that there was a strong case being made to build a 600 person Civic community hall/amenity in the centre of Wimbledon and it was possible that the sale proceeds from the hall could be allocated to that project.
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The Councilâs diminishing resources and future reliance on partnership with the community.
The Leader recognised that there was considerable opposition to the decision to sell the hall within the community of Wimbledon Park. He was sympathetic to the loss of amenity that this posed and explained the past budget decision to close the library and the mobile library service. This meeting was to create an ongoing dialogue with those involved to ensure an outcome that was, as far as possible, satisfactory to all concerned.
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He emphasised that it was the Councilâs responsibility to look at the resources of the borough as a whole and make decisions that were for the common good of the larger community. Acknowledging that every year a larger portion of the overall expenditure was being allocated to Education and Social Services conversely meant there was an ever-reducing amount available for such as Parks and community halls. The Council recognised that, in the future, it would be necessary to rely more heavily on working in partnership with local groups associations and residents generally.
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The Leader then opened the meeting for comments from all those present.
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Summary of the views expressed by the local Councillors and representatives of Wimbledon Park RA.
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The Council should be aware of the strength of the community feeling in Wimbledon Park and the work that goes into maintaining a sense of community from local groups and councillors. The health of the community is a fragile thing and the council should not underestimate the damage done to the community from taking away local amenities such the library and the mobile library service. Taking away the community hall will be a major blow to the community and will undoubtedly make it more difficult to maintain that sense of community in the future. It was pointed out that only 3 years ago the community lost the last bank in the parade as well as the library and there were two other empty properties in the parade of shops. This had a very depressing effect on the community and made the whole Îvillageâ look very unattractive.
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The Hall had been under-utilised because of the lack of marketing, difficulty of booking, hire costs and general neglect. For years the hall had been neglected by the Council to the extent that it was considered unfit by Ofsted. The outside walls had been covered in graffiti for years with no attempt to clean it up. It was no surprise that it was under-utilised and therefore not generating income. It was generally felt that given proper management and marketing the hall could easily pay it way as there was a rich variety of potential demand in the community from all types of activities and groups.
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In particular it was agreed that there was a need for a non denominational community centre, which was acceptable to all ethnic groups and religions. WP is an area with a rich tapestry of residents from all over the world and is becoming more international by the day. Although there are C of E and Roman Catholic Church halls available this does necessarily suit those of different religions and beliefs nor does it necessarily suit the requirements of the churches to use their halls on such a commercial basis.
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It was acknowledged that Wimbledon Park had one of the highest if not the highest ratio of children in the population of anywhere in Europe therefore demand for a suitable amenity for all sorts of childrenâs educational and sports activities was significant. There was also much potential demand from youth groups and also older people.
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Wimbledon Park was also well served by underground and bus services and close to the centre of Wimbledon and Wimbledon station. A properly run and flexible facility could also attract usage from the business community for meetings conferences.
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It was emphasised that whilst there might be a benefit to the residents of WP from building a new civic centre in Wimbledon. What was needed in WP was an amenity that could act as a focal point all activities and would help reinforce the community identity.
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There was also recognition that in modern day terms the present hall was not necessarily the best use of the site. Even if the present hall was to pay its way this would not help the councilâs quest to reduce overall costs and raise capital for other much- needed projects in the borough.
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Wimbledon Civic Forum
Marcus Beale emphasised the need to look at the needs of the greater community beyond the boundaries of WP. The establishment of a high quality civic centre in Wimbledon would enhance the reputation of Wimbledon serve a much wider community demand and give pride to it s citizens.
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He suggested that with imagination we could achieve a new development that made a real contribution to the street scene, provided a local community facility and made a (capital) contribution to a new community facility in Wimbledon.
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He also thought it was important to try to give added value to the WP hall site to help make the redevelopment work. This could perhaps be achieved by making a landmark development by having a design competition.
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Conclusion
It was generally agreed that probably the best solution was redevelopment of the site wth the inclusion of a community facility which met the properly identified needs of the
Community. This facility could possibly be run by a charitable trust set up by the residents.

The problems of finding a sympathetic developer for the redevelopment, who would satisfactorily combine the requirements for both a quality development and a suitable community facility for the residents, were not underestimated. Therefore it was agreed that the type of facility should be properly identified through properly assessing the needs of the community.

It was agreed that those present representing the interests of Wimbledon Park should draw up a business plan, which would reflect the properly identified needs of the community and the most suitable type of facility that would meet those needs. The Council would then endeavour to incorporate this expression of community needs in the planning brief for the redevelopment of the site. It was further agreed that the Residents group would aim to have that business plan with the Council by the middle of September. Thereafter a further meeting would be called to consider the proposals.

Click here for Wimbledon Park Residents Association's website

ICS/6.07.03ÊÊÊ