VILLAGE hall committees in the Okehampton area are angry over a decision by West Devon Borough Council to reduce the rate relief on these 'vital community facilities'.
Treasurer of South Zeal's Victory Hall Jim Goodwin, who is contacting West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett over the matter, said it was 'disgraceful' that struggling hall committees now had to pay 10 per cent of the rates.
'We have always had 100 per cent rate relief, 80 per cent of which is mandatory,' he said.
'It could mean that village hall rents will have to increase to cover these extra costs. The hall is a vital community facility and as a rate payer and user of the hall I find this decision disgraceful.'
Chairman of Whiddon Down Village Hall Peter Cannon said if it was not for the half a dozen volunteers the hall would be in 'rack and ruin'.
'We will have to put on two extra functions to get sufficient funds to pay the £97 rate demand,' he said.
'The people who support these functions are already paying council tax for their own properties and now they will have to put their hand in their pocket again.'
Mr Cannon said he understood West Devon Borough Council was the only council in the county that charged rates on villages halls.
'We had a rate demand in 1999 but this year the cost has more than doubled,' he said. 'It does not make any sense when the hall is in greater disrepair than it was last year.'
Treasurer of Sticklepath Village Hall committee Ian Bowkley said there seemed to be no consistency because Sticklepath had been paying ten per cent of the rates for two years yet other villages had got their first demand this year.
'Village halls provide a facility for the community and it is another imposition having to find this extra sum of money,' he said. 'It means we cannot spend it on other things like maintaining the hall.
'It is something we are not very happy about but we accept that borough councils have had their Central Government grants reduced and they have other priorities such as village shops.'
Chief accountant for the borough council Neil Williams said in years gone by the council used to give hall committees 20 per cent relief on top of the mandatory 80 per cent without consideration of how worthy a cause or financially needy it was.
'Whiddon Down was getting the same relief as somewhere else where there was an awful lot more money in the bank,' he said.
'We now have set criteria and questions have to be answered by hall committees one of which is about finances.'
Mr Williams said the average relief in West Devon was 90 per cent but there were one or two with rural deprivation which were getting a bit more than that, providing they had produced a set of accounts.
He added there was no deliberate attempt to target village halls and it was not a result of sports clubs having their rate relief increased.
'Giving the sports clubs a bit more purely gives us an overspend,' he said. 'It is not a case of diverting the money from one to another.'
Mr Williams said the consistency of the new system would improve as time went on. He advised people to contact the valuation office in Plymouth if they were concerned about a rise in the value of their halls.
'The borough council does not set the business rates — this is covered by the valuation office,' he said.