At the start of 2002 it began to look like there was positive progress in all of the areas that had been holding things back.
As part of the changes detailed above a new constitution was defined for what was now known as the Church Lawford Village Hall – this can be found here.
Further news related to the planning applications for new houses to be built on the old school site (what was to become Townsend Close)
The news that the villages were allowing the school grounds to be sold caused some concerns, but a detailed response from the Steering Group clarified a number of points. That response is transposed below:
It was not the present school site that was given to the village, it was the site of the old Victorian building that once stood where the bungalows are now, up by the main road. In the 1960s, when the old school became too dilapidated, a new school was built to replace it. That is the school that has just been demolished.
The County Council bought the land for the new school and paid for the building. When the old school site was sold for building land, the proceeds went to the County Council but they fell well short of the sum the County had paid out for the new school.
Nevertheless, at that point the County Council transferred the ownership of the new school to the Diocese who were the Trustees for the old school and now became the Trustees for the new one. So matters continued for as long as the land and building continued in use as a school.
Once the school closed a provision of the Education Act came into play which says that if the former school is sold then the County Council is entitled to be recompensed for the money it put in to build it There is a formula for calculating the amount and the County Council is entitled to 90% of any sale price. The rest goes to the Diocese to be spent on other Church schools in the County. Nothing comes to the village.
The village really does not need any more open leisure space, neither could we afford to upkeep the site. We have the Recreation Ground and under the terms of the deal the Reading Room Trustees have struck with the Diocese, we are getting the old school playground for use as a car park on a 99 year lease at a peppercorn rent. The new developer will build an access road and erect fencing at no cost to the Reading Room Trustees or to the Parish Council
That’s not a bad deal
Howard Parvin.
Chairman Reading Room Trustees.
By the Summer of 2002 there were signs of real progress regarding the Village Hall – and then in late July came news of the possible Airport development that would remove both villages from the map – making any project irrelevant. That had an obvious impact on the amount of time that people could spend on the Village Hall initiative, especially during the initial consultation period in the remainder of 2002. However, things did not stall completely, and although the threat remained through most of 2003, various people “kept things moving”.
Additionally the Government team from the Department of Transport came to visit Church Lawford and as well as erecting a huge temporary building on the recreation ground, they insisted on hiring the Reading Room for toilets and refreshments. They paid for the Reading Room to be redecorated and that helped to keep it going for several more years.
During 2003 a number of updates were issued by the Steering Group.
