Leigham Community Hall Refurbishment

St Edward’s Church (SEC) owns and manages Leigham Community Hall (LCH) on the Leigham Estate, Plymouth. LCH is of brick construction and offers a large hall with stage area, kitchen, toilets and reception area. The applicant also has community space at the church, located 1.8 miles away from the hall, and this is well used. LCH host a number of regular weekly groups including bingo, Men’s Shed, mini kickers, Karate and several dog training groups. The building is popular for private parties and is booked most weekends. A monthly craft fayre is also held on site. The hall has seen very little refurbishment for 40 years. In 2022 a survey highlighted some of the roof required immediate attention and other areas required attention. One critical note was to replace the roof over the main hall; replaced using a £100,000 grant in 2023. SEC would now like to address the remaining issues from the survey, including replacing the roof over the toilets and reception area, guttering and fascias, windows and security grilles. Biffa Award has been approached to fully fund a 40 year old flat roof, fascias and guttering. Additional grants from The National Lottery Community Fund and Bernard Sunley Foundation will replace windows and grilles, and SEC will use more than £16,000 of crowd funding, alonside reserves to fund surveyor costs, VAT and the Biffa Award plaque. LCH is the only community facility on the estate, with the nearest similar community facility two miles away over the busy A38.