Barr Hall Project
Barr Community Hall hosts several regular community groups as well as one-off social and fundraising events. The Hall is currently owned by South Ayrshire Council but is managed by Barr Community Association, which oversees community usage, and manage the hall lets. Barr Community Hall includes Barr Bowling Green, Barr Putting Green, Barr War Memorial and Public Toilets.
Open Day – November 12th, 2022
On November 12th, 2022, Barr Community SCIO held an Open Day in the hall. Representatives from South Ayrshire Council (Tom Henderson, Colin Love), Development Trusts Association for Scotland (John Main), Scottish Land Fund (Sharon Davidson) Graven (Designers Ross Hunter and Lewis Grant) and local Councillors Alec Clark and Peter Henderson attended, along with over 80 members of the public.
The information presented on the day included posters and plans for the hall project, and community members were encouraged to leave feedback and comments. The responses to that feedback is here:
Barr Community SCIO Open Day feedback and responses
The information presented at the Open Day is available below:
With thanks to Graven for providing plans for the hall, the white card model animation, and these posters free of charge.
Renewable Technologies and Funding for Barr Community
BP Economic Development Strategy
History of the Hub Project
2015 – 2016 – Community Hub
Since the closure of the local pub, work has been carried out to determine the best use of the facilities in the village. A comprehensive Feasibility Study carried out in 2015 recommended an amalgamation of facilities in the form of a hub that would be both an asset to the village and an attraction to visitors. An architect was commissioned to look at the available buildings and advised that the community hall was the most viable option with a view to sustainability and the potential to fulfil the community needs as identified in the study.
A community meeting was held on 1st December 2016, with representatives present of all stakeholders and organisations in the village including Barr Parish Development Company (BPDC), Barr Community Council (BCC), Barr Community Association (BCA), Barr Stores Steering Group (BSSG), Colin Love (South Ayrshire Council Enterprise Development Officer), various Councillors, Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). A unanimous vote of all stakeholders agreed that the Barr Parish Development Company should lead the project of creating a suitable community hub.
2017 – 2019 – Creation of SCIO for the Hall Project
South Ayrshire Council Community Asset Transfer Team advised that in order to comply with asset transfer regulations, charitable status would be required, in the structure of a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). Barr Community SCIO was formed in November 2019 from the outcome of a number of meetings in 2018 with the South Ayrshire Council (SAC) Community Asset Transfer Manager and community stakeholders; BPDC, BCC, BCA.
2019 – 2020 – Large Scale Refurbishment
The stage 1 Community Asset Transfer application was submitted to South Ayrshire Council and approved to move forwards to stage 2. Funding was secured from Scottish Land Fund Stage 1 application for architectural scoping costs for the hall, which was carried out in January 2020. Occam Architecture provided a proposed new layout of the hall, which included relocating the kitchen to the heart of the building to serve all areas of the facility, demolishing the existing bowling room to form a new bowling facility extension, refurbish the two main halls, create a new hub room adjacent to the entrance, provide storage room by dividing existing general purpose room and construct external patio.
A business plan was created which detailed the large scale refurbishment that would provide a range of flexible spaces and other facilities. This would have created meeting rooms for small groups; a commercial kitchen available to let; a small IT suite with an office space for the SCIO; flexible small and large halls; and meeting space. The cost for this extensive programme would be £913,074, over three phases. Barr Community SCIO has been adaptable and conscious of the need to provide a sustainable facility and this is reflected in the original intention to phase the larger scale project.
2020 – Community Development Officer Support
Barr Community SCIO secured funding to employ a Community Development Officer and Creetown Initiative were engaged in March 2020 to provide this support. Unfortunately at this time, the Covid-19 pandemic struck. South Ayrshire Council staff had to work from home and no panel/committee meetings were taking place. Barr Community Hall was shut and the SCIOs Community Development Officer was also required to isolate and work from home.
2020 – 2021 Impacts of Covid-19 – Scaled Back Project
Changes in the funding landscape due to Covid-19 and other external forces resulted in a severe lack of funds that would support a major capital project, such as Barr Hall refurbishment. The extensive plans were therefore put on hold, but as a way forward, scaled back plans were put out to the community, to include necessary repairs and upgrades to make the building more efficient and usable, without making major structural changes. The costs for this were estimated to be around £300,000. The business plan was revised to reflect these changes and was circulated to the community, key stakeholders and partner organisations in March 2021.
2021 – Feedback from the Community – Project on Hold
The business plan received a lot of feedback from the community, including individual community members and also one letter representing several of the organisations who use the hall on a regular basis, highlighting their concerns. To be able to progress through the Community Asset Transfer process, the project required the support of the groups using the hall and also the community as a whole and unfortunately it had not been possible to unite the community behind a single proposal. Therefore in May 2021, Barr Community SCIO temporarily put the Stage 2 community asset transfer application on hold, allowing the status quo to remain with South Ayrshire Council.
In October 2021, a member of South Ayrshire Council’s community asset transfer team attended a Barr Community SCIO Members Update Meeting and explained that the Council owned halls are under review. He mentioned that the status quo cannot remain and that Council’s first preference would be for a transfer of ownership of the hall to a suitable community body via a community asset transfer, or if this was not possible, a lease arrangement with a community organisation, who would take all income generated from lets but would be responsible for all operating costs. If neither of these options happen, the all would be reviewed and may be considered for closure or sale.
Barr Community SCIO communicated this update to the whole community in October 2021 and conducted conversations with community groups, interested parties and key stakeholders during December 2021. This will form part of the stakeholder consultation process for the hall particularly, which would feed into a revised business plan if the community as a whole wants this project to progress. Similarly, further research will be undertaken regarding costings, surveys, reports etc, again depending upon the outcomes of conversations.
In November 2021 South Ayrshire Council agreed to have an independent valuation carried out on the hall and will also provide running costs of the building, to the community.
2022
In March 2022 a door to door leaflet drop took place with 122 households taking part
The flyer asked for support and 68 replies were received ticking “I support the community purchasing the Barr Hall via a Community Asset Transfer to turn it into a multi-functional and sustainable community hub, that will benefit the community for future generations.”
88 flyers were returned – 87 supporting and 1 not supporting. 71%. Comments received varied from “get on with it”, “save our hall it would be a real blow to lose it”.
Talks continued with South Ayrshire Council. Designs were drawn up and Survey reports with costings were presented to the SCIO in July 2022. Around the same time, a new community development officer was brought on board – with thanks to Carrick Futures and the Barr Community Fund for funding this post. They were tasked with revising the Business Plan and preparing for a CAT 2 Application, taking into account all of the comments and feedback so far. Various professional organisations were consulted and professional advice has been offered.
An Open Day was held in November 2022 where concept drawings, a projected budget, and other materials were shared openly with the community. Feedback was mostly positive, and people were encouraged to ask questions about the project which were answered in a document made publicly available. Some of the documents can be found at the top of this page.
Spring 2023
In early 2023, taking various issues into account, the trustees of the SCIO recommended the Hub project be paused indefinitely and sought feedback from their members on this move.
The SCIO held their AGM where they asked the membership if they supported the continuation of the Hub project or not. The members voted overwhelmingly for the project to continue, and as such the final draft of the Business Plan was created by the SCIO, community development officer, and in conjunction with CJM Accountancy, supported by Community Wealth Building (South Ayrshire Council).
The draft Business Plan was shared with the community and feedback sought and can be seen here: Draft Community Hub Business Plan
Autumn 2023
In October 2023, a series of workshops were held in the hall to gain more community feedback. These were seen as very successful, and the report that resulted from these workshops can be seen here: November 2023 Newsletter and Workshop Report. In response to continuing strong community support, the SCIO trustees will now apply to South Ayrshire Council to return ownership of the village hall to the community.