Hadleigh Old Fire Station has been a cultural and community hub for our Borough since 2012. Local artists have workshops there and the appliance hall is used for many local events and community fayres.

The building is owned by Essex County Council and currently run on their behalf by an organisation called ACAVA. ACAVA have decided to terminate their management arrangement of the building and gave all tenants until the end of March to vacate the premises.

This is entirely unacceptable for the artists who have run their workshops there for many years and for the tenants in the community who use the hall. I am currently working with the local councillors Jill Reeves and Jacqui Thornton to facilitate a discussion between Essex County Council, the users of the building, Hadleigh Community Group and the newly formed Friends of HOFS. What we want to see is security for the tenants and users of HOFS in the short term and support for the hall users and the community to manage the building themselves.

Thank you to all of those who have signed the petition in support of this so far and for those yet to sign, you can do so online via this link: https://cmis.essex.gov.uk/.../Save-Hadleigh-Old-Fire...