(Photo: SBRC)
The South Burnett Regional Council will consult local communities over the next 12 months about the future use of their halls.
At this month’s Council meeting, Councillors heard the SBRC currently owns 14 community halls and manages 13 of them.
One of these – the Blackbutt Community Hall – is now managed by the Blackbutt Community Council under an agreement struck last June.
That arrangement has proven so successful the Council would now like to explore whether similar arrangements could be made with other community groups.
The meeting was told Council currently spends $350,000 a year operating the hall and will have to spend a minimum of $1.6 million over the next 10 years to ensure they all meet safety standards.
Halls at Tingoora and Hivesville are currently deemed unsafe and are closed.
Communities General Manager Eleanor Sharpe told the meeting the proposal was aimed at smaller community halls, not town halls in the major centres.
She said the time had come to consult with communities about how their halls are used because times are changing, and so are possible uses.
Cr Deb Palmer noted that ever since the Blackbutt Community Council had taken over the day-to-day operations of the Blackbutt Hall after community discussions about the idea, things had “gone forward”.
“The Blackbutt Community Council takes great pride in running the hall. And when halls are run by the community, they look after them better,” she said.
Cr Cheryl Dalton said she was happy with the idea but suggested Council should talk with the Tingoora and Hivesville communities as soon as possible.
Cr Kathy Duff agreed.
“The Hivesville community don’t understand why their hall just sits there,” she said.
Cr Palmer stressed the proposal wasn’t about giving away ownership of the halls.
Instead, it was about giving communities day-to-day control over their halls again.
- Related article: Community Takes Over Hall
