School's Out... Forever?

Come along to a public meeting hosted by Sneinton Neighbourhood Forum to find out what's going on with the Old School Hall: Meet outside the Hall at 6:30pm on Monday 12th September. All welcome.

Update: See the meeting outcomes and news of the next meeting on our follow up post.

Update: Working group forms to take ideas forward to save the hall

Over the last month,  rumours have been circulating on social media and through word of mouth, that the historic Old School Hall on Windmill Lane is to be demolished early in September. Quite a few upset residents have asked us what we know about this, so we decided to dig a bit deeper to provide you with an accurate account of what is happening with the Hall.  

The building has fallen into a poor physical state of repair, and so It is not safe to let it continue to be open to the public.  A decision has been made by the City Council  to

close the building from mid-September, with a medium-term plan to demolish the building in 2017. However, our local councillors are keen to allow time for local community groups to come forward with any ideas for the building that have a realistic chance of being funded.

The short term priority has been to ensure that groups currently meeting in the Hall have somewhere else to meet, in Dales Ward, in one of our other community venues. Also some immediate remedial work will need to be done on the building, but no further bookings will be allowed.

The Forum is holding a public meeting on September 12th at 6:30pm, meeting outside the Old School Hall on Windmill Lane and then carrying on the meeting at 7pm in St Stephen's Church. Councillor David Mellen and representatives of the Renewal Trust and the City Council heritage team have agreed to speak and answer questions from the public and interested groups.

To find out more about this meeting please contact us sneintonneighbourhoodforum@gmail.com 


Posted

views
Upvote Upvoted 0
8 responses
Why wasn't anyone on the hall committee invited to this meeting until last minute and also where were you when the committee was trying to get help and now you are going behind people's back. There are plans in place but obviously you don't know about them as you haven't spoke to anyone on the committee. Surely you should find out what is happening and plans put in place before you do these things, cause you could put those plans in jeopardy and then what. Alot of work is being done behind the scenes but if you don't ask you don't know so you are going into this really with no proper information.
— Roslyn dack
Well said roslyn!! Has anyone actually took the time to find out from the committee at the hall ?? There is plans in place and current talks. As a sneinton community where was the support weeks months ago when they have tried to get it!! I think it's on fair to get all the facts before scaremongering takes place!
— Kerry Warwick
Oh and can I also point out in your article you have put the hall is being demolished in September, you have also then put in 2017 to be demolished just wondered which one was true.
— Roslyn dack
Hi Kerry, hi Roslyn, thanks for commenting. Rumour and hearsay do need to be tackled, so we're singing from the same hymn sheet there! We look forward to hearing what the committee's plans are, it's good to hear they plan to continue their efforts despite being closed down. The meeting might be a good chance to spread the word and get people on board or even joining the committee? The facts we're reporting relate to what we've been told by the Council, if they're wrong we look forward to finding out the true situation at the meeting. Sneinton Neighborhood Forum's position on the hall is neutral (sorry to be boring), we just think whatever happens there in the future is really important for the whole community so we are inviting people together to share facts and discuss the future potential of the site. As it says in the article, the initial rumours we heard were that the hall would be demolished as soon as it was shut down. We've since been told the Council plans to demolish the building in 2017 if a viable new use is not found. Finally, we've done our best to get a public open meeting together at short notice, no invites have been issued as its an open public meeting, we hope anyone who wants to will attend and have their say. It looks like it's going to be well attended as a lot of people say they care passionately about the place and have good memories of it as a school and community centre.
— A posthaven user
Alot of people are passionate about the place your words but like I said where were they. And you say it's an open meeting and anyone can attend no invites were sent out but haven't you invited a local councillor to come and speak and some others but not one person on the old school hall committee, this is what you have stated in your article. At the end of the day at least one member of the old school hall committee should of been invited to speak and they haven't and it's disgusting. I did a sponsored walk to help raise funds and we are trying to get the money in and now with you coming out with that article people will not pay as they don't see the point as the hall is being demolished and that's it and as you do not have the right facts people will think it's a waste of time giving the sponsor money so thanks for that also. Also this same thing happens a few years back when there was uncertainty about the old school hall people came rushing forward to help to either buy the hall or wanting certain things to be done when they realised these things couldn't happen then they walked away. So u will be going into this with no real facts and no one to put you straight as you have gave the hall committee as much short notice as possible some are on holiday some have work etc and let me guess you won't change the date as it took to long to organise but if u had checked the date with committee members first they would of been able to be there. "I look forward to you hearing the plans" you say just a shame it will not happen as the people who know will not be there as they were not invited to speak like others were. You have been digging around your words and found out stuff maybe you should go to people who know the truth first before holding this meeting you are misleading the community and getting people angry when really if they knew the truth they would see the work that is going on but as I said they won't find out the truth as you also don't Know the truth and the hall committee only found out by accident about this meet up. You really have gone behind the old school hall committee back and it's disgusting all you had to do was e-mail one of them or phone and you must of had time as you have managed to arrange this meeting. Alot of people do have alot of memories of the hall myself included and that's why I am trying to help in away I can maybe you should do the same not by getting people angry but by finding out the truth and doing something to help out with putting the plans in place rather than getting everyone angry
— Roslyn dack
Thanks for the extra info Roslyn and really impressive effort with the sponsored walk. Rumours of a plan to demolish the hall was spreading around back in July/August then it was posted on a local community group's Facebook page, so we made efforts to find out the truth from the decision makers in the process- the building owners ie the Council, the Renewal Trust who support all the community centres in the area and the Council's Heritage Officer because the building's in a Conservation Area so would require planning permission to demolish. Thanks for giving us a chance to clarify about 'invitations'- we needed to find a date when those people/organisations could be available to answer questions from the community- no invitations were made to community groups interested in the future of the site because of the number of interested groups and the impossible size of the task. I hope this clears things up and I'll edit the article to reflect this. I think we share the same goal of getting the facts out there and avoiding rumours and false information which cause upset. The time between now and the meeting can hopefully be spent making sure everyone knows about it and gets to hear the facts.
— A posthaven user
So on the Monday you will go ahead with something where no representation from a committee who have worked hard and got plans and you are all going to give out wrong information it's not right and many people who have spoke to me about this meet up who live in the community are very angry with what you have gone and done without involving anyone who are working with people from the hall. Consideration means just picking up a phone and talking to a committee member at the end of the day you are meeting organisations who have not used the hall but want to come involved now what about the user groups cause I didn't get anything and I am a regular user of the hall so you have gone with outside organisations not the ones involved with the hall at present which is disgraceful
— Roslyn dack
Really well attended meeting in the end, with lots of enthusiasm for protecting the hall alongside a lot of concern about the amount of money needing to be raised and generated to keep it maintained in the future. Notes of the meeting have been compiled alongside the survey report from the Council and the Committee statement will be added as soon as we have it. Latest post here: http://sneintonneighbourhoodforum.posthaven.com...
— A posthaven user
Add Website URL »