Closure of Haywards Heath hall to be discussed by council’s scrutiny committee after concerns raised by Liberal Democrats

In September, members of the cabinet agreed unanimously to close the 50-year-old hall, in Haywards Heath, but the decision was called in by the Liberal Democrats.

It will be debated by the scrutiny committee on October 13.

Explaining her reasons for calling in the decision, Alison Bennett (Lib Dem, Hurstpierpoint & Downs) said: “The more we looked at the decision and the more I considered what the constitution said about how key decisions like that should be taken, the more unanswered questions I thought there were about how that process had been taken.”

Ms Bennett said the whole process happened ‘really quickly’ and the council’s duty to consult adequately both internally and with the public ‘hasn’t been met’.

It was a view shared by members of the public who submitted questions to a meeting of the full council on Wednesday (September 30).

One said the decision to close the hall had been ‘sprung on the local community with virtually no notice’, while another said more than half of the groups who used it could not find anywhere else suitable locally.

John Belsey, cabinet member for service delivery, was asked how many of those groups had been consulted on the plans to close the hall and how many supported those plans.

Mr Belsey gave no answer to that question.

He did, however, share some data about the usage of the hall.

He said 5 per cent of the bookings in 2019/20 required specialist theatre facilities, with only 8 per cent of those attracting audiences of more than 200, while 74 per cent saw fewer than 50 people attend.

Mr Belsey added: “There are over 20 community buildings, church halls, community centres and sports pavilions within a one-mile radius of the hall, as well as nine educational facilities.

“Officers will work with users of Clair Hall to understand their needs and support them to relocate.”

Like all public venues, the hall was closed in March to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

It was removed from the leisure management contract with Places Leisure in August.

The cabinet was told it would cost around £1m to maintain and repair the hall over the next 20 years, while ‘significant work’ would need to be carried out to ensure it met the energy efficiency standards due to come into play in 2023.

While council members saw the closure of the hall as an opportunity to replace it with something better, thousands of people have signed online petitions calling for it to be saved.

Karen Dunn , Local Democracy Reporting Service