Fight to Save the Management of Dorking Halls

In May 2008 I joined local campaigners and Lib Dem councillors in their fight against the threats to Dorking Halls. The Conservative Group who control Mole Valley District Council (as they have the most councillors in Mole Valley), was considering selling the management of the local venue to a private company or trust in order to save money. They engaged in a costly exercise to find out how much money they might save (ironically!), only to find the answer was very little.

We, and many local people, were concerned that selling the management of the Halls would result in an increase in ticket prices for Dorking Halls’ shows, and an increase in rates charged to community groups renting parts of the Halls. A private management company could ignore the requirements of the community in favour of making as much profit as possible from the venue. So we wanted to ensure that the management of the Halls remained under democratic control.

Lib Dem District Council Group Leader, Councillor Margaret Cooksey, organised a petition against the Conservative plan.

On 3 June the Council agreed to maintain Dorking Halls’ in-house management arrangements. So the threat of privatisation that had hung over the Halls for a very long time was removed. We were really pleased.

Cllr Margaret Cooksey, Cllr Tim Loretto, Cllr Paul Elderton and I outside Dorking Halls collecting signatures for the petition: