Parish council own the building

Question

Parish council insist they own the building not the community. However the community pay all the bills.

 Plus  if volunteers want to use the rooms to help the community we are charged the same rent as outsiders.  We have had covid and a financial crisis and the Parish council have done nothing for the community. Is it right we should pay twice to use our "community rooms"?

Surely if the Parish council are representatives of the community the community own the rooms?

Answer 1

If the Community is unhappy then they need to take  the Parish Council back into Community ownership by replacing the current Councillors
Only a minority of Parish Councillors are elected so complacency builds up

Answer 2

Is it right we should pay twice to use our "community rooms"?

How much do you pay in the precept for the parish council?  I would suggest quite a small amount and probably not enough to cover the costs of running and maintaining the hall as well as the playgrounds, recreations grounds, benches, litter picking, grounds maintenance etc etc that parish councils also pay for.

In my instance, I had a resident complain that as a tax payer she had a right to a particular service.  When I delicately advised her that her parish council tax contribution was about 30p a day, she saw that her demands that £000s of tree works to improve her view were a little excessive.

In your question, the parish council is probably right in that it owns the asset on behalf of the community and they are responsible for running it effectively so that it doesn't become a financial burden for the whole parish.  Therefore to charge hall hire fees for those who are actually using the facility is equitable.  Those who don't use the facility are therefore not burdened with the true running costs and only contribute through their council tax.

Answer 3

Pankhurst    Just to confirm as noted, the council owns the building as it is a legal entity and can do so.   Then, there is no sich thing as a free meal, so come costs have to be incurred by users.  Many councils change less to villagers than non villagers.