March 2006 - Plans for a New Church Hall in Blandford - Page 4

So What is The Vision For The Hall ? The Vision of the Church is to provide a resource for the whole Town of Blandford that is designed to be used by all sectors of the community, especially with youth and children, every day of the week. The replacement building would offer a wide variety of uses for the community in varying sized rooms, with full kitchen and disabled facilities. There is no other building in the town which currently offers this facility. Why Can't The Church Just Go Ahead And Build It ? The fact that the Church Hall is a Grade 2 Listed Building and is in a Conservation Area means that the building cannot be demolished and rebuilt without considerable discussion by the Town Council and North Dorset District Council. They have to give permission for this before anything else can happen.

Won't It Just Be Used By The Church ? The Church Hall is owned and run by the Church and would be used regularly by church groups. At present, the children's group on a Sunday has had to relocate to the Woodhouse Gardens Pavilion and the Rectory as we have a large number of young people in the Church community. However, the desire of the church is to offer the Hall to the Town as an amenity for the whole Community as a place for community events such as the arts (including exhibitions) and possibly using it as a cinema, (as happens at Durweston Village Hall). What About The Cost ? The cost of these plans is not small but the Church recently sold a property - and the money received can only be used in the provision of a Church Hall. A significant proportion of the cost is thus already available to the church. It is believed that the rest of the money could be raised fairly quickly. It is hoped that a new hall could be in operation within a year of permission being granted.