Campaigning for Fair Fees for Community Groups in Council Venues
Cllr Andrew Varney’s (Liberal Democrat, Brislington West) statement on the Council’s venue hire fees for community groups:
Bristol’s Liberal Democrat Councillors have been raising the flag on the new outrageous fees offered to community groups and have been calling for the fees to be revised. We recognise how prohibitive these new fees are for local groups, and value the important work they do in our communities.
I first raised the issue of the new fees in Council-owned venues across the city, including the Create Centre, in September. The increase in the fees followed a change in the third-party company running the Council’s venues.
After I spoke out, the Council rectified the situation with the management company and protected affordable fees for community groups hiring council venues. This shows that by standing up and highlighting these issues, progress can be made. You can read our article on the situation here: Bristol Lib Dems intervene on Council’s unfair charges to community groups - Bristol Liberal Democrats
Now that it has come to light that community groups are still facing astronomical increases in fees for hiring rooms in City Hall, we have once again been a leading voice on bringing to light this injustice.
It is no wonder that local community groups are starting to abandon their usual room bookings with Bristol City Council due to the exorbitant fees and looking elsewhere.
It simply cannot be acceptable that the Council is pricing out local organisations from using our city’s shared facilities.
On Monday 3rd November, I wrote to the Leader of the Council, Cllr Tony Dyer, saying:
Once again, local organisations are being asked to pay unreasonable amounts of money to use council facilities.
Back in September, I was able to force a rethink on fees at the Create Centre when I was informed that the Bristol Naturalists’ Society were being asked for over £1,250 to use the lecture theatre for a couple of hours, rather than the £250 they had previously paid.
I have now received an email from the Bristol Choral Society, who use the Council Chamber for rehearsals once a week, telling me that they have now been asked to pay over £2,600 per evening to use the space rather than the £320 they had previously paid.
Annual increases in fees are perfectly normal, but such an astronomical rise is totally unacceptable. If this is not resolved, there will be no charities, community groups, or any other local organisation able to afford to use council spaces for their events.
I hope you will give this matter the attention it deserves.
Cllr Tony Dyer responded:
We share your concern and want to reassure you that we are working to resolve it.
Any community group that previously received a discounted rate and would like to discuss this further should contact the Leader’s Office directly. We have discretion within the current contract to support these arrangements it’s just a matter of getting the right process in place.
While our venues do provide much-needed income for the council, it’s equally important that they remain accessible to our communities and we are committed to ensuring this going forward.
We have confirmed with officers that the International Women’s Day event next year will go ahead as usual, with the event space waived. The Choral Society have also been informed that their usual rate will continue going forward.
I welcome this statement and am glad to see that fair fees for community groups should be protected. Liberal Democrats will continue to make sure that any community groups have affordable access to Council venues.