Fears for Studley village hall future as rent goes up from £1 to £33k

COMMUNITY groups have been left reeling following a plan by Studley Parish Council to hike the village hall rent from £1 to more than £33,000 a year.

There are fears the knock-on effect will make it too expensive for community and voluntary groups to meet at the venue. The building, funded by the village and then gifted by the management committee to the parish council in 2008 to ‘keep it safe’, is a bustling hub for many activities. In April, the parish council clerk wrote to the hall’s management committee to say the rent is going up from its current peppercorn level of £1 to £33,500.

Studley Village Hall management committee chairman Matt Fox said he was ‘gobsmacked’ when he saw the demand.