The Victoria Hall Trust Charity is being charged more by Ealing Council for management and other costs now that it's closed than when the Hall was open.

In September 2023, citing unspecified 'health and safety' grounds, Ealing Council closed down the Town Hall and with it the Victoria Hall thus depriving the community of the use of its facilities and the Trust of any income.

A view of the fenced-off side entrance to the Victoria Hall which along with Ealing Town Hall has been closed since September 2023 (Image supplied)

Yet at a meeting on 8 January 2025 of the Victoria Trust Advisory Committee, Ealing Council officers presented figures which showed that for the year ending 31 March 2024, with the Hall closed for six months, the Victoria Hall Trust charity was charged 13.1% more for 'management and operations' than when it was operating for the whole of the previous year.

For the year ending 31 March 2024, the Trust was charged a total of £236,958 for management and administration of hall hire (£38,678) along with operational premises costs (£198,280).

Despite the Hall only being open for six months during 2023-24, the total charged to the Charity was 13.3% more than the previous year when the Hall was open for a full 12 months.

Total costs for 2022-23 were £209,075 (management and administration of hall hire: £49,943; operational premises costs: £159,132.

There was no explanation at the meeting of why the Victoria Hall Trust was being charged more when it was closed down than when it was fully open.

The dispute between Ealing Council and local campaigners over the future of the Victoria Hall has been going on since 2016.

The latest developments in the nine-year saga are:

• The Charity Commission is trying to block local residents from appealing against the latest version of the 'Scheme' it produced that would allow Ealing Council to dispose of the property of the Victoria Hall Trust and allow developers to turn it into a luxury hotel.
• Ealing Council has been criticised for its plans to avoid an open and unrestricted process to recruit the two new independent members it's been ordered by the Charity Commission to recruit for a new Advisory Committee where councillors would be in the minority. Instead of launching a transparent recruitment process, the Council has approached a limited list of people already on its books, for example school governors and others who may not be familiar with the management of charitable trusts or have an appreciation of the role that the Hall has played in the life of Ealing's community.
• Ealing Civic Society has applied to Historic England to have Ealing Town Hall and the Victoria Hall added to the Buildings At Risk Register.

Roger Green, chair of the Friends of the Victoria Hall (FoVH) said: "What a farce! How can the Hall possibly cost more closed than when it was open? No wonder Council officials were unable to explain this at last week's meeting."

In another recent development the Charity Commission is trying to have thrown out of court the latest appeal against its Victoria Hall Scheme.

Green commented: "This makes the Commission look even less like its function is to protect charity beneficiaries and has resulted in us having to launch yet another fundraising drive to cover the legal costs that they've pushed us into.

"Our crowdfunding page can be found here."

FoVH believes that the Victoria Hall Trust Advisory Committee needs and deserves properly independent members with a clear and demonstrable interest in the Hall as a centre for community activities and an ambition to maximise what it could do for the people of Ealing.

Candidates should be drawn from the largest possible pool of local people, including previous users of the Victoria Hall, and those with business, charity and event management experience, with the energy and ideas to secure its future.

The Friends are calling for everyone in the Borough who's concerned about the future of this important community facility to apply for one of the two posts.

All they need to do is to email an expression of interest (maximum two pages of A4) by 5pm on 27 January 2025 to the email address contained in the Council's information pack about the role, which contains more details of the role and can be downloaded here.