Statement from St Faith’s Church about the letting of the Church Hall to Ladybird Lane Nursery.St Faith’s Church Hall is used by many community groups, which are subsidised by the church. It is also home to a commercially-run nursery, which has provided an excellent service to our local children for a number of years. The hall is an important resource for the community of Brentford. In order to offer the best facilities for the whole community, the church is committed to complying with disability access requirements and therefore plans to refurbish the lobby to provide a disabled toilet and better access. Fundraising has been undertaken by the church and community groups to make this possible. On completion the facilities will be much improved. Building work is scheduled to take place during July and August in order to minimise disruption to our hall users, but it will unfortunately involve temporary vacation of the premises. This situation is provided for under the terms of the current nursery lease.In March 2004 the owner of the nursery advised the church that she intended to sell her business and asked for a new lease to be negotiated, extending the term from 3 years to 5 or 10 years, which could be assigned to the new owner. The church was happy to consider this.As a charity the church has a duty of care over the management of its resources and so professional advice was sought regarding the current market rent for the hall which would also take into account the improvement to the facilities and the variation to the term of the lease. The church’s appointed surveyor identified that the rent presently being charged to the nursery was substantially below the market rent and any new lease intended for a new owner needed to take account of this. No revised rent had been agreed or demanded when the church received notice from the leaseholder in February 2005 that she intended to close the nursery at the end of August 2005.
Derek Simpson ● 7311d