AN AMBITIOUS plan to build a £900,000 ÔgreenÕ village hall in Stroud has hit a major financial hurdle.

On Tuesday night East Hampshire district councillors were asked to make a massive £75,000 one-off grant from their new community initiatives fund towards the project.

But councillors were reluctant to give such a big grant to the tiny village of Stroud, which, they heard, consisted of only 150 houses and around 400 villagers.

Instead they said they would match the £25,000 offered by Hampshire County Council on condition Stroud was successful in its lottery bid.

Members of the district councilÕs central area community committee heard that the ÔgreenÕ village hall was designed to replace the current l920s first world war corrugated-iron hut, which could not be renovated to meet public health and safety standards.

The new £875,000 hall would probably be the first of its kind in the country. It would be built of the best insulating materials and designed to be highly energy efficient.

It would include £86,000 of ÔgreenÕ features including its own reedbed sewage plant, beech-strip flooring, copper roofing, high-specification windows, mechanical ventilation, heat-recovery installations, rainwater collection systems, low-flush toilets and solar collector panels.

Councillors heard the building was designed to be so environmentally friendly that it could even be possible to sell surplus electricity generated by its wind turbine back to the national grid.

Environmental consultant Ron Allen told the meeting: ÒThis is a landmark building. It is fabulous and has every element of design to make it wholly sustainable. Stroud is setting the standards for the rest of the country.Ó

But Sue Halstead told the meeting: ÒIf it sets standards nobody else can afford, it is not helpful to the rest of the district.Ó

She said she believed it would not be reasonable of the committee to give £75,000 to one village. Mrs Halstead asked what sums of money had been given for village halls in other parts of the district.

Judy Onslow said she had Òbig problemsÓ with the project, which she felt was huge for a village the size of Stroud: ÒTo be honest with you I am speechless,Ó she told fellow councillors.

ÒIt is a very expensive route to achieve a village hall.Ó

ÒThis is a wonderful project,Ó said John Venning, Òbut as we know wonderful projects tend to be very, very expensive.Ó

He asked councillors if they would be in favour of a sustainable village hall for Stroud if they could see revised plans which dropped some of the sustainable items and made it less expensive.

Andrew Pattie told councillors: ÒThe cost of the hallÕs greenness is £86,000 - that is ten per cent of the entire project. This ÔgreennessÕ is virtually a side issue. The real issue is why the building itself costs as much as ten good-sized houses.Ó

Stroud needed a new village hall, Teresa Jamieson reminded councillors, and she was impressed by the sustainable design of the proposed building. But she warned: ÒThe bottom line is what is the pay-off for the lotteryÕs community fund? They will want to know how many people this is benefiting and I think you will have a problem there. I donÕt want to be part of stamping on your dream, because this is a fantastic dream.Ó

Brian Dutton said he believed that such a grandiose hall was not suitable for only 400 people.

He said the total cost of the building represented a cost of £2,187 to each villager.

Council leader Elizabeth Cartwright was concerned that the sustainable elements should work. She pointed out that four sustainable homes had been built in Liphook and one of the features did not work.

She said the committee could not spend the councilÕs community initiatives fund wholly in the central area, and councillors agreed to her proposal that the cabinet should be asked to grant £25,000 to the project.

The leaders of the project are also hoping for £300,000 from the lotteryÕs community fund, Stroud Parish Council will be asked to raise a precept for one or more years, and £75,000 could come from major charitable trusts, £25,000 from minor charitable trusts, £250,000 from the aggregates levy sustainability fund, £40,000 from the Countryside Agency, company sponsorship and donations of £50,000, and £25,000 from the community.