Sidlesham parish councillors discuss the short and long-term future of village memorial hall

By HILARY GAVIN

SIDLESHAM parish councillors met for their January meeting yesterday when they had lively discussions on an array of issues affecting the village – including the future of the Memorial Hall, Speedwatch volunteers and the Stagecoach no51 bus route.

As you can see, I have embedded five YouTube videos in this blog post so I’d invite you to watch the second one below when you can see and listen to the councillors addressing the problems facing the short and long-term future of the village’s memorial hall .

The debate on the village hall began in earnest at yesterday’s meeting after Sidlesham Community Association’s (SCA) Chairman and Treasurer Mr Norman Robson updated councillors on the running costs of the Memorial Hall & Recreation Grounds and the building’s state of repair at the tail-end of my first video.

If you watch the footage in my first video (12 mins) you will see and hear Mr Robson explaining that it had been a good year so far for the Memorial Hall & Recreation Ground with “a record surplus” of around £6,000 in management accounts up to December.

Saying that, he said he “couldn’t promise that it was going to be a continuously good year” because “it is a hell of a job to heat that building and it is very expensive to do it”. He said users had begun changing allegiances to the St Mary’s Church Hall Parish Rooms because “it’s cleaner, warmer and it doesn’t smell” – adding he couldn’t do anything about the smell.

The meeting heard that the ceiling had fallen for a second time in the memorial hall complex and later revealed that there had been a problem when a cistern fell off the wall in the ladies’ toilets, but Mr Robson told the meeting that it was no use repairing the building until they stop the water getting inside.

On the positive side, Mr Robson said the memorial hall was currently earning a third of its income from the use of the soccer (football) pitch and changing room facilities before revealing that electricity and maintenance took up 60 per cent of total costs of the hall and, in a normal year, it costs £8,000 keeping on top of repairs and renewals and maintaining it in “a serviceable state”.

He told the meeting that the memorial hall had originally been put up as a second-hand building in the Seventies, and Cllr Tricia Tull told the meeting that it was only “expected to do them for about ten years”. Mr Robson admitted it was “past its sell-by date”. Cllr Lewis Ramm responded to Mr Robson’s request for questions by noting that there had been a profit so far this year before asking whether – “longer-term”, “new building” – there were any plans for grants.

Mr Robson said the good news was there was £37,000 in cash resources and revealed he had previously drawn up a full business plan. He said both he and Cllr Mellodey had met with a National Lottery individual responsible for this area, probably three to four years ago, but “it was too early in the game”.

Mr Robson told the meeting that, at that time, they, one, hadn’t had “a track record”, two, hadn’t built up enough capital resources and, three, it had been a question of “lovely to have a chat with you, come back when you are in a better position”. He continued by warning councillors that he thought that “better position is not going to happen purely on the strength of the National Lottery”, and added “it was going to be on our” (SCA) resources and, in his opinion, Public Loans Works Board monies. He added: “If you want a new build, it is something that ourselves (SCA) and the Parish Council will have to work closely on”.

Mr Robson added that it had possibly been too early in the game a few years ago when it was going to be a considerable weight of debt and, therefore, interest on the totality of Parish Council income, so it wasn’t surprising that the answer back then was: “No, thank you”. Summing up, he said: “We are where we are. We have a track record, we are building up our capital reserves and, at some time, the decision has to be made, is this building fit for purpose?”

Cllr Lewis Ramm ended my first YouTube video footage by saying he felt Mr Robson “was proving” himself doing what you are doing, when does the next stage come?”

At this point – having set the background – I do not intend to provide a commentary to my second video in this post but I’d invite you to watch the councillors as they debate the issue as to whether, as Cllr Nick Wade says, they put “sticking plasters” on the aged memorial hall with “temporary repairs” and grants rather than, or before, submitting a bid for a new build.

Other matters raised at the meeting included the Speedwatch initiative, (see 5.26mins into my third YouTube video). Chairman Mellodey told councillors that Sidlesham was now registered for the scheme and reminded them that this was not a parish council initiative as he called on local volunteers “to man speed guns” to curb speeding through the village.

Cllr Mellodey said that Bex Middleton, the Sidlesham mum who had been “vocal” about speeding traffic, had not volunteered. And, at one point, Cllr Tull can be overheard in my video footage saying “it’s like spying on your neighbours”, before telling other councillors that it is local drivers who speed.

Parish Clerk Alison Colban updated the meeting on WSCC and Stagecoach’s No 51 Bus Route Working Forum, which has already seen the installation of digital displays at some bus stops, along with plans for bus shelters in a bid to get people to use public transport (see 9.20mins into the third YouTube video).

If you watch my video footage you will see Cllr Corina Hall complaining about the bus display signs in Chichester when she said two buses were cancelled. She felt that – for the benefit of her health – she would rather get in her car than freeze in the cold at her age.

I should say that WSCC Cllr Pieter Montyn attended yesterday’s meeting to update councillors, as usual, on county council matters and Cllr Tracy Parsons and CDC Cllr Val Weller sent their apologies for absence. CDC Donna Johnson couldn’t make the proceedings due to illness.

If you watch my first video you will see that Chairman Mellodey started the full meeting late after the parish council’s planning committee meeting beforehand overran. He closed the meeting at 8.50pm yesterday evening shortly after Cllr David Guest raised the plight of ex-Servicemen who might be due support but are not easily identifiable in the parish. By Hilary Gavin

Sidlesham Parish Council 1-Agenda-January-2026-1.pdf

Hilary Gavin

A freelance journalist who wants to see a return to public accountability in the local press

Hilary Gavin

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