Rural News: Two-day event in Stratford being held for specialist village hall advisers

The dedicated band of specialist advisers who support England’s 10,000 rural village halls are holding their annual training event in Stratford-Upon-Avon next month.

The two-day event, from May 11-12, brings together village hall advisers from 34 counties from Devon to Durham to share their knowledge and best practice.

On the agenda for the delegates will be issues that help to keep village halls at the heart of rural communities - from funding to maintenance and broadband provision.

Speakers at the Holiday Inn will include representatives from the Pensions Advisory Service and Gigaclear.  The BIG Lottery Fund and Office for Civil Society will join some of the sessions and Becky Payne, author of Churches for Communities, will lead a session on working with churches.   Solicitor Jonathan Dawson will be holding advice surgeries and there will be a discussion about ACRE’s Quality Standard Scheme for village halls.

The event is organised by village hall advisers from across the South East, including CCB's very own Community Builders Adviser - Wendy Dacey - with the support of ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England). ACRE is the national voice for the Network of 38 rural community councils that employ advisers to support the 80,000 volunteers who manage rural community buildings.

A first for this event will be a market place for six organisations that provide goods and services to village halls which will be an opportunity to build relationships between business and the sector.  

It is the second visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon for the event, which usually moves around the country and is now celebrating its 17th year.  ACRE’s Rural Community Buildings Officer Deborah Clarke said: “Village halls are hugely valued by their communities for playing a multi-purpose role, serving as a social centre, arts centre, sports centre and in some cases providing education, health or retail services.

“The volunteers who manage them need specialist support, which demands time, expertise and money. Our Network of advisers is working hard to maintain this service against a backdrop of rapidly reducing funding for professional support organisations. We are pleased to welcome again our main supporters Aon UK Limited but also those organisations joining us in the market place.   “The annual training event is a great opportunity for the advisers to get together and share ideas about how to help village halls survive and thrive.”

Insurance giant Aon UK Limited has supported the event since 2000.  Babbar Abbas, Client Manager at Aon Risk Solutions, said: “Aon are delighted to continue our long-standing support for the village hall advisers’ training event.

“The role of advisers is clearly important to supporting village halls in being well managed, including the mitigation of risks which can, in the worst scenario, threaten viability.  Aon are keen to work with delegates to support this work, which includes making this important event possible.”

FREE Lone Worker Sessions: Maidenhead

Suzy Lamplugh Trust are a national charity. We work with organisations, providing Lone Worker and Personal Safety training, for a fee of between £500 and £2000. We would like to run some free training in the Maidenhead area. 

Who are the lone workers out there? Anyone who works on their own, without direct supervision or support at any time. For example:
Staff and volunteers working alone on site or separately in premises, shops, or kiosks, leisure centres

People working outside normal office hours eg. cleaners and security staff, or flexi-time office workers

To prove to funders it is worth running these sessions, we wanted to send out a survey to see what organisations and charities in the area think. The link to the survey is here:https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3LYXMTJ It will only take a couple of minutes to complete. By completing this the Suzy Lamplugh Trust will be able to ascertain if there is a local need in Berkshire and can plan training accordingly.

NEW: Effective & Fundamental Councillor Training

NEW: Effective & Fundamental Councillor Training
When: Wednesday 29 June 2016 - 6pm - 9:30 pm
Where: The Calcot Centre, Highview, Calcot, Reading RG31 4XD
Registration and a sandwich buffet included from 6pm for a prompt start at 6.30pm

Who should come?
The training is aimed at Parish and Town Councillors who want an update and new Councillors alike. Clerks are also welcome to attend.

What does it cover?
• Roles and Responsibilities within the Council
• Meetings, Agenda, Minutes and the law
• Accountability and transparency with public money
Cost:
£40.00 + VAT per delegate for Member Councils and                
£80.00 + VAT per delegate for Non-Member Councils    
This includes light buffet, refreshments and a briefing pack                                     

To book a place please click here.        
  

Rural Housing Update

April 2016 and uncertainty remains the key driver in rural affordable housing delivery.  What can Berkshire's rural communities expect in terms of truly affordable homes for local people in a changing landscape?

Late last week I had a call from a Parish Council Chair distraught that a developer that should be delivering some much needed affordable homes as part of the Section 106 conditions on a new development has now applied to change the affordable rented properties to Shared Ownership as the requirement for rented properties will no longer make the scheme viable to deliver.  I had no answer or remedy to offer this group.

The Homes and Communities Agency, the Government quango that manages the subsidies for affordable housing, announced late last year that there is no longer any subsidy in the current programme for rented tenures.  At about the same time the Government announced that Housing Associations will have to decrease their rents by 1%.  That all stacks up to money or incentive to develop new affordable rented properties

Put quite simply, that means we are unlikely to see much affordable rented accommodation developed for some time.  But if you can afford it, now is a great time to invest in your kids 'starter home'.

What is affordable housing? 

This is possibly the most important question to ask at the moment. Anyone remember when it was called 'social housing', then it became 'affordable housing' around the time that Local Authorities were encouraged to sell off their housing stock to Housing Associations.   The big difference was that the definition was broadened from just subsidised rented accommodation from either a Council or a Registered Provider to also include certain intermediate home ownership tenures, like Shared ownership properties.  More recently 'affordable rents' were introduced as an affordable tenure, rented units at 80% or less of open market rents.  It starts to get muddy.

What is now proposed is that the definition be broadened once again to include the new 'Starter Homes' product , which quite simply is just homes for sale to first time buyers with a 20% discount on the open market price (provided they are below a price cap of £250,000 outside Greater London). There are other regulations that will be attached, but it is proposed that as part of S106 conditions, Local Authorities will be required to deliver 20% of all housing on any new developments over 10 units, as so-called Starter Homes, this will leave very little room for any other affordable housing tenure.

To my mind we should eliminate the confusion caused by calling any homes 'affordable housing' and just call them 'discounted housing' 

Housing & Planning Bill

Having passed through the House of Commons relatively unscathed, the Housing and Planning Bill has been in Report stage in the House of Lords since the beginning of the year.  Many amendments have been proposed and debated, but we have yet to see what the final amendments will look like.

It is still hoped that the Bill will be enacted before the summer recess but I wouldn't want to place a bet on it.

There has been a massive rural voice demanding security of perpetuity on Rural Exception Sites, and it is anticipated that via the clever use of covenants any future threat of 'right to buy 'on exception sites can be avoided.  However the introduction of Starter Homes as a tenure presents its own threat.  All hope is not lost, there may still be a chance that rural exception sites will be exempted from the duty to provide Starter Homes.  Which is jolly good given that they certainly do not provide an affordable tenure in perpetuity and are unlikely to be considered affordable to very many people.

Local Plan Policies

Delivery of rural exception sites have been severely curtailed (in Berkshire have ground to a halt) due to uncertainty regarding: funding, housing site allocations, housing delivery numbers in the Strategic Housing Market Assessment, lack of up to date Local Policies in some Unitaries...

Rural communities are rightfully concerned about the types of development that might come their way. However, now more than ever they should be proactive about providing opportunities for affordable homes for local people.  Rural exception sites are still an option, although now you will have to have an element of open market housing to cross-subsidise the affordable housing.  Get your local landowners on board and start negotiating how you can meet local needs locally!

Rural Housing Enabling in Berkshire

Lastly, the funding for the Rural Housing Enabling Project in Berkshire has been severely cut this year, like everything else.  This most likely means that Rural Housing Need Surveys are no longer available without charge. These surveys provide your community with vital evidence to show just what the affordable housing need in your community is. 

Apart from Housing Need Surveys, the Rural Housing Enabler (Arlene Kerlsey) is able to help your community identify land and negotiate with land owners and developers to make sure your community gets the right kind of development to meet local needs.  There may now be charges for these sevices but they won’t be astronomical. 

I am also a Locality Neighbourhood Planning Champion and can offer you advice and signpost your questions on Neighbourhood Planning. Keep an eye out, I plan to run some training events soon.

I may be down, but I'm not out - call me if you would like to discuss any of the above, 0118 9612000 or email: arlene.kersley@ccberks.org.uk

Tracing the history of autism understanding in Berkshire

Autism Berkshire is looking for stories of people’s lives with autism in recent times and the past as part of a project launched last year to mark the 25th anniversary of the charity, which was founded as the Berkshire Autistic Society. The aim is to create a written and spoken record of the history and development of autism understanding in the county since Victorian times.

As well as forming an archive, the material gathered will also be used to create a touring exhibition for display at venues across the county which will highlight a number of individual stories and how understanding of autism has changed over the years. We want to hear individuals’ own stories and those of family members, relatives and friends. These could include experiences of life in the community or in medical facilities. Initial research suggests that people with autism spectrum conditions may in the past have been sent to the former Fair Mile Hospital, near Cholsey, which was founded in 1870 as the County Lunatic Asylum for Berkshire, and closed in 2003. The project is also looking to gather stories from older special schools such as The Avenue, in Reading, which was founded more than 100 years ago. As part of the research process, two open forum meetings will be held in Reading.

The first forum will focus on older people’s experiences and will involve facilitated story-telling, gathering stories and memories of living with autism. It will take place at RISC (Reading International Solidarity Centre), in London Street, on Tuesday, April 19, from 10am to 1pm.

People around the county who want to take part by sharing their or their family’s stories can also send information to Autism Berkshire’s office in Reading, or ask for a researcher to visit them, using the contact details above. Autism Berkshire trustee Rachel Cotton said: “We think this is a really exciting project to record the lives of ordinary people with extraordinary experiences. Please do get in touch.” The project is funded with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Anyone who would like more information about the project, or wants to attend the forum, should email ssnow@autismberkshire.org.uk or call 01189 594 594.

The Great Pottery Throw Down is Back

BBC Two contest The Great Pottery Throw Down is returning in 2016 and the production team are currently looking for the next batch of great amateur to early career potters to take part. Perhaps you aspire to become a full-time professional?  Or, are you looking to take the next step up in your pottery practice? Maybe you simply want to show the nation your work!
Whatever your ambitions, if you live and breathe pottery, are confident and enthusiastic and you fancy your chances then we would love to hear from you!

Just head to http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/takepart  to download an application form.

How to be a Better Trustee Training Event

CCB is running a workshop ‘How to be a Better Trustee’ aimed at volunteers and people responsible for running village halls and other community buildings in Berkshire.

This will be held at Tidmarsh village hall near Pangbourne on Monday 23rd May 7.30pm -9.30pm. It’s a topic of interest to anyone involved in running and maintaining their hall and a good opportunity to meet other hall trustees as well. The meeting will cover governance, legal obligations, licences required, hiring costs, booking procedures as well as other topics raised on the night.

There is no charge to attend and halls may send as many delegates as they wish but places must be booked by contacting Wendy Dacey wendy.dacey@ccberks.org.uk or by phone 0118 9612000. This training is supported and funded by the Adult Community Learning Team at West Berkshire Council.

Village SOS Helps Community Groups in Berkshire

20 people, representing communities from across Berkshire, attended a workshop organised by CCB about Village SOS (Support, Outreach and Sustainability) at Hermitage village hall on 23rd March.

Village SOS aims to help rural communities thrive and survive. Caroline Masundire explained how this nationwide scheme can help volunteers living in areas with less than 10,000 population to obtain intensive help to progress a local project to benefit their local areas.

Those attending had a wide variety of projects they wish to complete. From saving the local library, setting up a social group to combat isolation to renovating the village hall and improving the cricket club building for community use, delegates had  many ideas as to things they would like to do to benefit their communities. Supported by the Big Lottery Fund and run by Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) the scheme aims to help communities support themselves with intensive help from outside. The workshop was supported by the Adult Community Learning Team at West Berkshire Council.

To read more about Village SOS and how it can help your community please click here.