The latest news about the Village Hall.

Various members of the Council including the Mayor of Ards met members of the Community Association on the 28th July 2011. The purpose of this meeting was supposed to be the final discussion between the parties concerned before the Ards Council voted on what was to happen to the Village Hall. 
However the vote was postponed to the 28th September. Plans were made by the Community Association to attend the chambers of the Council to view the proceedings of the decision as to what should happen to the Village Hall. 6 members of the Association turned up only to be told that the vote had now been postponed again and this time it was to be held in private chambers.

The Ards Council has been reviewing the case of the Village Hall for over 18 months. Hopefully a decision will be made soon to the benefit of all residents in Ballygowan and surrounding areas.

Full details of the Community Associations meetings with the Council will be made available shortly.

Documents relating to the continuing saga of the Village Hall are below:
1) List of problems with the Village Hall made known to the council and still unresolved October 2009. Click HERE 

UPDATE: As of November nothing had been heard from the Council or Councillors regarding the fate of the Village Hall.
A request for info on the Village Hall was therefore sent to the Ards Council on 1st November asking for a timeline of events leading to a decision. On the 29th November a reply was received. Click HERE

As you can see in no uncertain terms we can see that Ballygowan Village Hall is receiving NO funding. 

NO funding for an extension.

NO funding for a new Village Hall

NO funding to modernise the Hall to bring it up to date. 

An email was sent to Archie Walls Director of Leisure Services on the 29th November asking that whilst NO extension or rebuild is to take place exactly what plans do the Council have for the Village Hall? 

When the Ards Council has earmarked £4million for a revamp of Londonderry Park, £28 million for a New Ards Leisure Centre could not a little of this money go to the outlying villages and towns? After all Ballygowan itself is one of the highest rate payer contributors in the Ards district yet continues to be forgotten when it comes to spreading a little of this money throughout the WHOLE of the borough and not just Newtownards. 

An extra 10% will be added to your rates bill to pay for this. 

A reply from Archie Walls was received on the 8th December. Read HERE

As you can see its more time delaying tactics. The Community Association has over the last ten years had TWO fully commisioned researches done into the needs of Ballygowan and the Village Hall. These findinsg have been totally disrgarded by the Council. Instead they commissioned a report for Archie Walls to complete which would determine the fate of the Village Hall. It seems this was a waste of time and effort both for the Council and the Community Association ( at least 3 meetings this last year with the Council) as they now want to create working groups to decide instead. 
There has been numerous meetings to determine the needs of Ballygowan and the Village Hall over the last 3 years in particular. Now they want to involve all the same groups who have already been involved in the past and come up with same conclusion ' What is in Ballygowan at the moment is not enough!'. There is no library, no internet access for the elderly, and the medical services for the old at the Brae can only be called medieval.
ALL the available funding  has been going to Newtownards! 
Even Ballygowan Football Team can not get a decent pitch , with so many rabbit holes on the pitch you could be forgiven thinking you were on a golf course. 

If you have a point of view please contact Archie Walls and let him know your thoughts.. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.