Report of Hartwell’s Barn and Saunder’s Field Public Meeting August 5th 2023
Introduction
The aim of this meeting was to help the Parish Council assess the level of support for purchasing Hartwell’s Barn and Saunder’s Field, to enable its use in perpetuity as a community asset. The meeting was intended to be interactive, with short presentations, followed by time for comments, questions and answers. (Residents were also invited to send comments in by email, web forms, verbally and phone.)
The public meeting was attended by approx 100 residents, which represents approximately 10% of the adult population of Brill.
Outcome
Brill Parish Council, working in collaboration with existing community groups, in particular Brill Society (a registered charity) will move forward to fundraise with the aim of the Parish Council purchasing Hartwell’s Barn and Saunders Field, to secure it for community use, now and into the future.
The Parish Council will be part of any future committee/ongoing activity involving the barn and field.
NOTE This summary also takes into account the feedback we received outside of the meeting, verbally, written and emails.
Record of the meeting
Councillor Trent Baker opened the meeting describing the barn and field, and his personal motivation for instigating this project. It is a beautiful and unique place and there is now a small window of opportunity to secure it for the community and for future generations.
Dave Munson, from Brill Environment Group, presented the background of the barn and field and current usage. The barn is an agricultural building and was used as a store for the Pointer family, graziers of the common until 1996. The Croydon family bought the barn in the late 90s when it fell down in storms. It was rebuilt as an education centre with public funding and a group of volunteers - Brill Environment Group - took on maintenance, financial responsibility, and running of the building.
The Croydons bought Saunder’s Field in 2000. It is a special place: Cath and now Dave Croydon are buried on part of the site which also serves as a memorial for Bernwode Amnesty Group, of which Cath Croydon was a founding member. An oak tree was planted in memory of the disappeared from the Pinochet military regime in Chile in the 1980s.
The refurbished barn education centre was originally opened on Saturday afternoons when the Windmill was open. Events held there include: an Easter bunny hunt, BBQ, Otmoor RSPB talk, creatures of the night, moth observation session, photography workshop, Midsummer Music, fungus foray, tree planting, Morris Minor (local singing group) rehearsals, theatre productions, Forest School activities (Brill School pupils years 1-6).
More recently, the ‘Fat Daddies’ (a group of 22 members) built a memorial on Saunder’s Field for a resident, Duncan Speake, and use this area in his memory.
The present situation
Trent stated that the purchasing price is £150,000. There would be an overage if the site was developed; this means the sellers would want a percentage of any selling price of the land if it was developed in the future. Ideally the sellers would like to close the sale by the end of October 2023.
The Parish Council do not have any plans to develop this land for private housing, or anything similar.
Parish Council Finance
Councillor Jennifer Tuffley outlined the options the Parish Council have to raise funds for this purchase. These include:
Community Ownership Fund; a grant from central government (the PC expressed an interest before the deadline of July 12th 2023)
Boutell Bequest; local funders. We could apply for funding now
National Lottery - but not answer until March 2024
Private donations
Note there are additional option open to charities and community groups; the PC has restrictions on what it can do in this area.
Parish Council yearly income summarised briefly
£50,000 precept from Bucks Council (from residents’ council tax)
£1700 from Bucks Council for grass cutting (devolved services)
£2500 from Rural Payments Agency specifically for grazing on the common (this is passed onto the Brill Village Community Herd)
We have already budgeted to spend £50,000 this yea - but expect to have £20,000 VAT in payments returned to us. We also have a reserve fund for unforeseen expenditure. The PC voted to keep a reserve no larger than half of our income, ie £25,000. We have already this year set aside £15,000 for windmill repairs; a foreseen expense although the exact amount was unknown until recently.
Comments and questions from the public
Question/comment: Could we have a sound system at these types of meetings? it’s difficult to hear.
PC response: Yes, apologies, this was an oversight.
What does the overage mean to us?
Should not affect us purchasing the land, the overage is unlikely unless larger scale development of the site.
Development is extremely unlikely as there is no vehicular access.
Unfortunately not the case. Need to be mindful there are ways to access this land and it is likely to be attractive to developers. There is agricultural access.
Running costs; would the barn and field be expensive to run?
Dave Munson responded that BEG have spent a little over £4000, alongside volunteer labour, over the last 20 or so years they have been responsible for the site. It doesn’t need a lot of maintenance in its current form.
Will the Parish Council expect volunteers to run the place/maintain the field?
No, it is not our intention to solely rely on volunteers.
Isn’t it similar to the Windmill, expected it not to cost much, but this is not the case?
Andy Fisher, Chair of Brill Society, answered that this is mainly because the maintenance plan was not strictly followed as regards the Windmill, hence ‘emergency’ repairs have had to be made, but with a maintenance plan strictly followed, this in unlikely to be an issue going forward. And with these assets together, we could attract more funding and potentially earn money from them, which could pay for Windmill maintenance.
But aren’t these figures astronomical? The council have already taken on the Walks and the Windmill. We’d love to have it, but is it realistic?
The Walks cost £45,000 and was sold to the village by Bucks Council; it could be argued to protect the land from development at that time.
Is there any way you could split the field/barn purchase?
Unlikely. To maximise profit, likely to be desirable to sell both together.
Where now? Will you canvass the village?
We intend to reflect village views in the main, which is what this meeting and the previous publicity has been about. The parish council may not be the vehicle for moving this forward. We don’t have time to canvass further or consider a referendum or similar process.
What about the morality of it as regards finance? This building renovation and subsequent maintenance was originally funded with public money.
It is enormously complex, the value doesn’t reflect what is there now, but the potential as a building plot.
The parish council should take this forward/have the overview, is the (sale) offer exclusive to the parish council?
We have an offer from the executors (as presented). The barn and field are not being openly marketed.
Isn’t the valuation worthy of further exploration? Has the price been tested/independently verified?
Yes.
If Brill can raise this money, and has volunteers, shouldn’t we look at what else needs doing in Brill first?
We don’t want the pasture to turn into wrack and ruin. The parish council can’t look after the land they already have, why add to it?
Many ideas were raised on how the barn and land could be used should it be purchased by the village (including those it is already used for). Here is a flavour of these:
Venue for different types of events
Woodland Burial Site/Community Orchard (potentially very lucrative)
Community meadow
Open at weekends as tourist site/linked to the windmill (as before)
Amphitheatre/musical venue; maximising the topography
Additional grazing area
Extension of the common - link to other outlying areas of the common - promoting biodiversity
Buy it and leave it as it is
The public meeting ended at 11:45
Moving Forward
After the public meeting, the Parish Council met with representative of The Brill Society and the Fat Daddies to make a plan. It was agreed that:
Provided all comments received separately by the Brill Parish Council align with the outcome of this meeting, The Brill Society will move forward to set up a separate bank account, in order to receive private donations and increase the value of these by claiming Gift Aid. Money donated will be ring-fenced for this project only.
Two parish councillors will become Trustees of The Brill Society and a bank account signatory, therefore the parish councillors will need to sign-off any spends from this fund.
Ideally, we could have representatives from other parties who currently are involved with/use the barn and/or field: eg Brill School, Brill Environment Group, Fat Daddies.
It will be decided at a later date what form the group will take in terms of the future running of the barn and field (there are different, some legally-binding options) with the following principles in mind:
Inclusion/openness (the option for all residents to be involved, if they wish to), transparency (ie of plans and finances) and sustainability (ie as much protection of the land as possible, to protect it from large scale development/housing, etc)
The Parish Council will own and be responsible for governance of Hartwell’s Barn and Saunder’s Field.
Next steps
Please keep an eye on the Brill Parish Council & Community website, social media and the notice boards for information on how to donate. This information will be available soon and will be publicised as widely as possible.