Village halls and community buildings: key statistics
Village Hall Data
For the purposes of what follows, "village halls" includes other community buildings. These data have been drawn from the latest information available.
- There are approximately 8,900 village halls in England.
- Overall, there has been an increase in the number of meeting places since 1997, with facilities in 85% of parishes and 52% of settlements1.
- Over 75% of villages have only one meeting place 2.
There is a close correlation between the size of a settlement and the likelihood of it having a meeting place.
- 87% of settlements with fewer than 50 residents have no meeting place.
- 58% of settlements with 100 - 199 residents have a meeting place 3 .
However, how the community uses the hall, and the services or facilities the hall has on offer, is vital. The people who use village halls a number of times a week tend to be those without private transport who cannot travel elsewhere and are at a more vulnerable stage of life: older people and those with young families and children. Research 4 carried out by Action with Communities in Rural England revealed that in 1998:
- 75% of halls were used by less than half of residents in the communities they serve.
- Over 57% of halls were used by less than a quarter of the community.
- Only 1.6% of hall management committees reported, on the basis of self-assessment, that they are used by between 76-100% of the community.
1 Rural Services Survey, Countryside Agency 2001
2 Village Halls in England 1998, ACRE (1999)
3 Rural Services Survey, Countryside Agency 2001
4 Village Halls in England 1998, ACRE (1999) (table G2)
The trend revealed by the study was that village halls were being used as a resource by fewer in the community. Defra and stakeholders would like to see the halls used by a wider range of people as outlets for various services which have an inclusive outreach across the community.
Funding history
The bulk of capital funding has come from local sources. The principle of local financing was reinforced by the introduction in the late 1950s by the then Department for Education and Science of a scheme which provided grants for up to 50% of project costs, on the condition that the other 50% was sourced locally and included a contribution by the local authority. Following through the principle of local funding, the scheme was ended in the early 1980s with the monies transferred to the rate support grant without being limited to village halls.
During the 1980s around £10 million per year of central funding was available to village halls. This increased significantly in the late 1990s following the establishment of the National Lottery.Funding levels
The following tables give information about the levels of funding provided by some funders.
| Year (Sept to August) | Community Fund Grants £ |
|---|---|
| 1995-1996 | 2,212,990 |
| 1996-1997 | 956,397 |
| 1997-1998 | 10,467,777 |
| 1998-1999 | 30,939,166 |
| 1999-2000 | 31,946,482 |
| 2000-2001 | 15,913,487 |
| 2001-2002 | 17,365,436 |
| 2002-2003 | 13,959,476 |
| 2003-2004 | 9,863,496 |
| 2004-2005 | 4,494,750 |
| 2005-2006 | 22,149,204 |
| Total | 160,268,661 |
| * Figures supplied by the Big Lottery Fund awards, excluding awards made under the “Awards For All” scheme. | |
| Year (Sept - Aug) | Awards For All £ |
|---|---|
| 1998-1999 | 573,484 |
| 1999-2000 | 1,882,577 |
| 2000-2001 | 1,430,912 |
| 2001-2002 | 1,397,322 |
| 2002-2003 | 620,109 |
| 2003-2004 | 852,668 |
| 2004-2005 | 1,219,525 |
| 2005-2006 | 2,380,065 |
| TOTAL | 10,356,662 |
| *Source Awards for All Policy & Development | |
Grants of under £5,000 are made to organisations whose annual income is not above £20,000 a year. The total number of village halls receiving grants from Awards for All on one occasion was 1511 or 17% of the existing 8900 village halls.
National Lottery - Millennium Fund
The Millennium Fund helped over 500 village halls and urban community centres in Britain to the value of nearly £100m; a rough estimate of the amount invested in rural village halls in England is £45m. Funding over the millennium was a one-off boost to village halls.
| GO Region | 2001/02 £ |
2002/03 £ |
2003/04 £ |
2004/05 £ |
2005/06 £ |
Total £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | 0 | 59,359 | 93,731 | 381,295 | 0 | 534,385 |
| East of England | 0 | 46,716 | 25,623 | 87,229 | 0 | 159,568 |
| North East | 0 | 0 | 389,839 | 120,317 | 102,621 | 612,777 |
| North West | 0 | 61,951 | 14,999 | 286,038 | 0 | 362,988 |
| South East | 8,286 | 20,809 | 123,503 | 283,326 | 38,208 | 474,133 |
| South West | 24,765 | 325,446 | 364,007 | 587,838 | 284,046 | 1,586,102 |
| West Midlands | £3,525 | 575,083 | 103,916 | 479,188 | 108,282 | 1,269,994 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 0 | 29,165 | 349,873 | 312,397 | 19,575 | 711,009 |
| Total | 36,576 | 1,118,529 | 1,465,491 | 2,537,629 | 552,731 | 5,710,956 |
| * These figures include European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) funding. The Rural Enterprise Scheme ended in June 2006. | ||||||
| * | 1996/7 | 1997/8 | 1998/9 | 1999/2000 | 2000/1 | 2001/2 | 2002/3 | 2003/4 | 2004/5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Loans in Year | 9 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| Total New Loans | 97,250 | 105,500 | 209,851 | 213,639 | 31,765 | 84,562 | 7,207 | 83,000 | 123,500 |
| *Source ACRE Village Halls Loan Fund Annual Report Village Information Officer | |||||||||
Other - Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund
| Year Jan - Dec | Total Grant Awarded |
|---|---|
| 2002 - 2003 | £187,000 |
| 2003 - 2004 | £145,000 |
| 2004 - 2005 | £66,000 |
| 2005 - 2006 | £413,000 |
Other - Landfill Community Fund
| Calendar Year (1Jan to 31 Dec) | LTCS Spend |
|---|---|
| 1997 | £211,100 |
| 1998 | £519,700 |
| 1999 | £855,700 |
| 2000 | £1,887,800 |
| 2001 | £2,037,100 |
| 2002 | £1,715,100 |
| 2003 | £1,889,100 |
| 2004 | £1,806,382 |
| 2005 | £1,817,394 |
| 2006 | £2,876,618 |
| Projects that have been delivered over more than one calendar year |
£8,882,805 |
| Total | £15,615,994 |
| Source ENTRUST 06/07/2007 | |
Local Funding
Local fundraising has always been an important part of capital funding for improvements, extensions and new building for village halls. This is still the case, especially for meeting match funding requirements for grants from some funders.
Local Authority Involvement
Local authorities are the main source of local funding for village halls. Some District Councils run grant schemes. Parish Councils may raise a precept on the council tax to support their village hall.
Ownership of the village hall by the Parish council or a charity is a significant issue when considering sources of funding (as set out in the table below):
| Source of funding | Available to Parish Council |
Available to charity |
|---|---|---|
| Parish council precept | Yes | Yes |
| Principal local authority | Yes | Yes |
| Local fundraising | Yes | Yes |
| Lottery: Community fund | No | Yes |
| Lottery: Heritage Lottery Fund | Yes | Yes |
| Lottery: Awards for all | Yes | Yes |
| Rural Enterprise Scheme (Defra) | No | Yes |
| Charitable trusts | No | Yes |
| Gift Aid | No | Yes |
Advice is available on charitable status from the Charity Commission at http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk.
Page last modified:
4 September, 2007
Page published: XX November, 2005