New Room Hire Rates Agreed

At the Committee meeting on February 1st the Community Centre Committee agreed the new room hire rates to be in place from April 1st 2022 until March 31st 2023. The overall increase was pegged at 3% but an amalgamation and simplification of the charging bands mean that some rates will have decreased slightly while some will have increased more than the base rate. There are now only three categories of charges, Village Organisations, Outside Organisations/Parties and Business/Local Government.

Vice Chair Sue Hardacre said " We did not increase our rates at all last year, which seemed sensible given the uncertainties of the pandemic. It has been our practice to raise rates by the Consumer Price Index, but this year it would have demanded a rise of 5.4% which seemed very high. We are very mindful of the increases to the cost of living that many of our customers, both individuals and groups, will experience this year and did not want to add to these stresses."

The Centre's income has remained buoyant thanks to a number of grants received , but the income in the coming year will take two direct hits. The price of fuel, especially gas, will add a significant amount to the annual charge made by the Council. Also the Community Centre was used regularly by staff at the Professional Centre next door for a range of meetings and with the departure of staff from these offices there could well be a £5,000 hit on the Centre's income stream.

Sue said " We are delighted that the Centre is seeing a return to normal use, and we hope that in the months to come we will remain an important asset to the village. Being affordable is one way we hope to ensure that everyone who wants to come and use us can do so".

Details of the new rates can be found on the website www.tarvincommunitycentre.org