PLANS to build a new community hall in St Columb Minor have been approved.

The scheme involves the demolition of the derelict St Columb Minor Memorial Hall in Church Street and the construction of a new village community hall.

The building will include a kitchen, dance floor, toddler soft play, a gardening store, changing rooms, reception office, toilets, disabled toilets, baby changing area, store room., outdoor seating area and a wildflower bed. There are plans for the hall to be used for various activities including yoga, Zumba, weddings, indoor fairs, discos, film clubs, car boot sales, coffee mornings, cooking classes, baking club and meetings.

Trustees decided the redevelopment of the hall, which has sat empty for more than two years, would be the best option as the building has fallen into disrepair. A structural report showed the hall is in danger of collapse as the wall ties have rusted.

The planning statement said: “The St Columb Minor Welcome Home Memorial Hall is a registered charity.

“Built in the 1970s, the hall has served the community well in the past but has suffered from neglect in recent years and is currently unusable.

“The cost of remedial works combined with a view to make the hall efficient and sustainable for the future use and enjoyment of the community, has led to the opinion that re- development of the hall is the best option.

“The re-development of the hall offers the opportunity to enhance its aesthetic appearance. Re-development of the hall creates the opportunity to replace the existing, poorly maintained and largely un-insulated building with a highly energy efficient and relatively low maintenance building that can serve the community well into the future.

“The proposed replacement hall remains a single storey building with a ridge height only 19.3cm higher than the ridge height of the existing building.

“The proposed footprint of 350m2 is 96m2 larger than the existing footprint, achieved by utilising currently un-used areas of land to the east and west of the building, whilst still fitting comfortably within the site area of 1178m2. This allows for more flexible space within the new hall whilst retaining space for a 1200mm wide wheelchair accessible path around the entire building, a soft play area, outdoor seating area and the introduction of a planting scheme.

“The seating capacity of the existing hall to comply with modern regulations is 103. The seating capacity of the proposed Hall with a 3m stage is 99 in the main hall or 153 when utilising the small hall to create a single space.

“The new kitchen is situated adjacent to the car park and can be entered independently from the main building as well as from within the hall, thus providing flexibility for catering.

“The kitchen is of a scale that can accommodate catering for events, cooking classes and baking clubs or simply to make a couple of cups of tea and coffee. The door between the kitchen and the small hall is designed as a stable door, enabling the top half to be open and worktop folded down to create a serving hatch.”