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Minutes from virtual meeting of Stonnall Youth & Community Centre Working Party held on Friday 5^th Feb 2021

1 Register of members in attendance:

Cllrs David Thompson, Sheila Beilby, Gail Nicholls, Stuart Jones, and David Salter. Clerk- Shirley O’Mara.

2 Apologies received: Mick Cox

3 The Working Party discussed at length the advice received from F.E.Smith Solicitor with regard to the lease between SY&CC & the Parish Council & historical correspondence relating to it (all documents circulated to Full Council).

It was agreed that the following options should be put to Full Council and then, if approved, form the basis of the consultation with all Stonnall residents.

Staffordshire County Council (SCC) has offered Shenstone Parish Council ownership of the Stonnall Youth and Community Centre (SYCC) land and building at no cost. Currently the Parish Council has a lease on the land which runs to 2030. The SYCC has a Management Committee that undertakes repairs.

A professional building appraisal of the SYCC has identified 75k of repair works are required within the next 5 years. The SYCC, pre Covid has been underused and following the repairs the site would remain constrained. The Village Hall has capacity to accommodate most if not all of the existing SYCC users with some give and take. The Village Hall can be extended to accommodate future needs at an estimated cost of between 134k and 276k.

The onsite replacement of the existing SYCC building has been estimated to cost between 338k and 555k. The existing site constraints would remain, the underuse would need to be addressed and the Village Hall would also continue with underused capacity.

The Village Hall Trustees do not wish to undertake the work involved with extending the Village Hall but they are willing to stand aside to allow others to do so.

After careful consideration the SYCC Working Group has concluded that both a repaired SYCC and a rebuilt SYCC building do not represent value for money and propose that the Parish Council consult on the following three options.

Option A. Stonnall residents, community groups, school and the medical practice is asked if they wish to own and redevelop the land and building for the benefit of the Stonnall community. Following an expression of committed and viable interest the Parish Council will take ownership of the land from the SCC on the basis that it will be then transferred to the committed and viable interest for the benefit of the Stonnall Community. Over a one to two year period existing SYCC users will be accommodated in the Village Hall.

Option B. Over a one to two year period the status of the Village Hall Trustees is amended to allow the Parish Council to support investment in the Village Hall to accommodate the current and future needs of Stonnall. Over the same time period and under the existing lease the existing SYCC users are offered accommodation within the Village Hall, the SYCC building is then demolished by the Parish Council and the land handed back to SCC. The Village Hall has Trustees who do not wish to undertake the work involved with extending the Village Hall but they are willing to stand aside to allow others to do so.

Option C.  Under the existing lease and over a one to two year period the existing SYCC users are offered accommodation within the Village Hall. Following this the SYCC building is demolished by the Parish Council and the land handed back to SCC.