Nocton Hub: ready to be the heartbeat of the community

11 Aug 20. Residents of Nocton village and parish are finally being welcomed to their new community-funded building, known as the Nocton Hub, that replaces the former village hall. Although Covid-related safety measures will reduce capacity while current measures are in place, its rooms are now available for hire by groups and individuals.

The new Hub building is roughly 40% larger than the 1981-era village hall it replaces and was constructed between August 2019 and March 2020. Its modern design addresses accessibility and equality issues and presents a street frontage dominated by full-height windows, a welcoming contrast to its predecessor.

Nocton Hub has three hireable spaces as well as a modern kitchen: the main event hall, a more informal lounge with a fully stocked bar, and a smaller meeting room for local groups and businesses. The event hall and the lounge both has a capacity of 100, subject to layout.

As with many activities the final commissioning and handover of Nocton Hub was put on hold by Covid-19. The local volunteers and Parish Council have only recently been able to finalise preparations for ‘business as usual’, as much as is permissible with prevailing safety measures.

The Working Group chair, Philip Johnston-Davis, said: “We are very excited to begin taking regular and one-off bookings from local groups, individuals and businesses and see the building breathed into life. All the volunteers are determined for this new facility to truly be the heart of the local community and bring people together, carefully and safely after this period of relative isolation.”

Ian Goldsworthy, Chairman of Nocton Parish Council, said: “Although the new building is being financed by the local community, we were only able to fit it out with essentials such as the kitchen, toilets, floor coverings, decoration and electrics, thanks to a generous grant of £61 463.00 from FCC Communities Foundation. Without the grant the Parish Council would have had to borrow significantly more to enable these key features and may not have had community support for the project.”

FCC Communities Foundation is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community projects through the Landfill Communities Fund.

Cheryl Raynor, FCC Communities Foundations Grant Manger, said: "It’s great to see something we have helped to fund finally completed and ready to be used by the local community, the hub is a fantastic community facility that will provide a great place for activities for many years to come. Well done to everyone involved."

To find out more about the Nocton Hub’s events and facilities that are now available for hire please visit https://sites.google.com/view/nocton-hub/ or find us @NoctonHub on social media.

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Notes to editors:

• FCC Communities Foundation is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community, conservation and heritage projects from funds donated by FCC Environment through the Landfill Communities Fund and Scottish Landfill Communities Fund. Since 1998, FCC Communities Foundation has granted over £200m to more than 7,000 projects which benefit people living within 10 miles of a FCC Environment landfill site. For more information please visit www.fcccommunitiesfoundation.org.uk

• FCC Environment is the leading UK waste and resource management company and is part of a global group with a strong heritage in providing services for communities and business. Its vision is to be the environmental company of choice, delivering change for a sustainable future. It employs 2,400 people and operates more than 200 facilities across England, Scotland and Wales. FCC Environment donates the landfill tax credits that are generated by its operations to FCC Communities Foundation, in order to add value to the environmental and social infrastructure of the communities around landfill sites. www.fccenvironment.co.uk

• The Landfill Communities Fund and Scottish Landfill Communities Fund - any waste that is discarded which cannot be reused, reprocessed or recycled may ultimately be disposed of in a landfill site. To encourage the re-use, recycle and recovery of more value from waste and use more environmentally friendly methods of waste disposal, Landfill Tax is charged on each tonne of waste sent to landfill. Landfill Operators (LOs) are able to redirect a small proportion of landfill tax liability to support a wide range of community and environmental projects in the vicinity of landfill sites through the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) and Scottish Landfill Communities Fund (SLCF). The LCF is regulated by ENTRUST on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs, and the projects are delivered by enrolled Environmental bodies (EBs). The SLCF is regulated by SEPA on behalf of Revenue Scotland and projects are delivered by Approved Bodies (ABs).