## **Potton Hall for All - Registered Charity No: 1158751** ## **Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31[st] December 2022.** The Charity was registered on 2[nd] October 2014 as a CIO and this is our report for the 12 month period ended 31[st] December 2022. The Trustees confirm that this complies with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 and our Constitution. ## **Our Aims** Our aim is to build and run a self financing multi-functional community Hall for the people of Potton and surrounding villages. ## **Our Objectives** To identify sources of funding which will enable us to build the hall and to work with other local bodies, both statutory and voluntary to leverage this. ## **Review of Activities and Achievements** We have consulted with potential users in Potton and the surrounding area to design a building which will provide them with the facilities they need from the hall. We have employed an Architect and have obtained full planning permission for the design which they produced for us. It incorporates features which enhance its sustainability. Central Bedfordshire Council have transferred the Land for the Hall and Car Parking to Potton Town Council and Potton Town Council have in turn have agreed to grant the Potton Hall for All Trustees a 199 year lease at a peppercorn rent of £1 per year. This land will come fully serviced and with a cash contribution of £683,132 Section 106 monies from the developer of one housing development in Potton. A further £339,912 of S106 money is promised from other housing developments in the town. This money has a time constraint and will be lost to the project if we are unable to show Central Bedfordshire Council that we have full funding for our building by August 2023. Early in the year we received a revised costing to build the hall we had designed. As a result to factors over which we have no control the estimated cost to build had risen from £1.85 million to just over three million. Currently we have £1.75 M pledged to the project and decided that we needed to find a design which satisfies our potential users which can be built for that amount. We have investigated a number of different ways in which this can be achieved and have commissioned a local company which has built other community halls in our area to design and build a community hall for us. We have shared our design brief with them and made clear our financial and time constraints. They have given us a project plan which delivers a new design by the end of the year and will put us in a position to satisfy the constraints on the Section 106 money and to complete construction by May 2024. We are aware that our new design will need a new submission for planning permission. We are working closely with Central Bedfordshire Council (our local planning authority) to expedite this. We have run a number of successful events which enhance community engagement in the project and raise funds towards it. These included an Easter Bunny Trail, a Quiz night run in association with Potton Show and a Murder Mystery Night run with Potton Playhouse and Potton Scout Group. We also provided teas at the Community Orchard Apple Day and participated in the Jubilee Celebrations, Seasonal Markets and Christmas Lights Switch on organised by Potton Town Council. A Friends of Potton Hall for All group has been formed to support the Trustees, particularly in running the community engagement and fundraising events. Further large scale funding applications are being prepared to pay for the build. We are working closely with Potton Town Council and Central Bedfordshire Council who are offering support for the project. ## **The Trustees** We have 6 Trustees who are very active in the local community, one of whom is nominated by Potton Town Council. They are supported by a number of smaller support committees. The Trustees have taken the commission’s public benefit guidance into account when making any decision to which it is relevant. J w c• c* w tsj n rTr o rg c • p c¥ o