Plans hatched by Batchworth Community Council (BCC) to buy a new community hall for Rickmansworth residents have been slowed down after Three Rivers District Council (TRDC) rejected an application for £750,000 to buy the premises.
After running a consultation with residents that found 54% of locals in favour of BCC buying Cloisters Hall for use as a new community hall, BCC applied to the TRDC Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). At present, TRDC’s CIL – a pot of money levied by local authorities on developers for investment back into the local community – is worth £7million.
BCC Chairman Andrea Fraser argues that much of TRDC’s CIL pot originates from developments in Rickmansworth town. Therefore, she hoped that TRDC would assign the necessary £750,000 to BCC to buy a new community hall to support the local community.
Unfortunately, on July 2, BCC was told that their application for funding failed to meet necessary criteria. The authority will likely have to wait until near the end of the year before an another opportunity to apply for CIL money from TRDC opens.
Cllr Fraser said: “BCC is only allowed to have eight councillors – for context, Chorleywood has double. As unpaid councillors, we don’t have much manpower.
“We asked TRDC for advice in sending in our application forms because some details were unclear after the application process was changed, and in response we received little guidance. Now we’ll have to wait for the next window in January 2025 before reapplying.”
A Three Rivers District Council spokesperson said: “The CIL funding bid application process has allocated millions of pounds over the last two years to support a number of strategic infrastructure projects across the district that have provided great benefits to the community.
“Regarding Batchworth Community Council, they were advised in July that their application was unsuccessful as it did not meet the threshold for progression.
“Officers have supported Batchworth Community Council during the application process, but all CIL eligible projects must meet the relevant CIL criteria.”
Photo Credit: David Hillas
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