The following text was agreed by Church Meeting on 31 January 2011 as respresenting the position of the Church in relation to the proposal relating to our Church Hall.

The existence of a Church Hall in close proximity to the Church Building is vital to the continuing spiritual, practical and financial well being of the Church.
The use of our Hall lies at the heart of our worship as young people leave the service part way through for their own activities in the Hall. The Hall is also used by the Church family for fellowship activities such as coffee mornings, fund raising evenings, family days, concerts, meals and our annual Bazaar.

The Church sees the provision of facilities to the wider community of Bishop's Stortford as a vital part of its outreach to the town. At present we estimate that 1,500 people use the premises each week.
Regular users of the Hall facilities will be aware that the building, while regularly maintained, is in need of some upgrading. In particular, there is no lift to the first floor.

As a registered charity, the Church must consider options put to it that might have the potential to enable it to advance its charitable objectives. This being the case, the Church has entered into exploratory discussions with Hendersons Global Investors (HGI) with a view to HGI providing a replacement facility to the current Church Hall.
Such discussions are private matters between the Church and HGI, but in response to recent interest and questions from the public we wish make clear that the following items form part of our negotiating stance:
1) any replacement hall should be in close proximity to the Church (where close is defined as the ability to walk from the Church to the Hall and back within the space of one hymn);
2) there be continuity of use between the existing facility and any replacement facility;
3) that the scale and nature of activities currently undertaken in the existing hall can be accommodated in any replacement facility.