Gloucestershire women banned from village hall

A Gloucestershire resident has been banned from entering her village hall because she asked what people thought about the potential of it becoming a warm space for vulnerable people to use this winter.

Cheryl Agg, who lives in Woodmancote near Bishop’s Cleeve, says she was shocked to find out she had been the subject of a secret code of conduct hearing over a Facebook post she made in November.

Mrs Agg learned about her ban after receiving a letter from the Woodmancote Village Hall committee last month stating she is prohibited from stepping foot in the building for three months.

However, there is one exception, she can attend the parish council meetings which are held there as she is a parish councillor.

But she is forbidden from attending any other events at the hall in Bushcombe Lane or its grounds. Even social gatherings such as birthday parties are out of bounds.

The letter says a number of the committee members asked for her “recent conduct and activities” to be added to the agenda of their December 17 meeting.

The committee members said they were “shocked” by a Facebook post she made in which she asked what residents thought about the possibility of using the village hall as a warm space for people struggling to heat their homes this winter as grants for such a scheme were available at Tewkesbury Borough Council.

“This was quite a surprise, indeed a shock, to many of us as none of us were aware of any contact to ascertain whether the premises were indeed a suitable place under this scheme,” the letter reads.

“When the warm spaces scheme was made known to us, we had discussed it briefly amongst ourselves and we immediately saw that the village hall was not, nor could be, suitable in its current form.

“While we fully support the principle of the scheme, Woodmancote Village Hall is most definitely not an appropriate place in any way. Our principle issue with this post is that it is likely to potentially cause harm to frail villagers who are in need of support.

“It is also likely to bring the village hall, the village hall committee and indeed the parish council into disrepute when it is found not to be open to them. It is likely to cause a lot of anger and possibly serious reactions against the village hall building, the village hall committee and most likely adverse comments to yourself.”

The letter goes on to say that the majority of committee members requested that this matter be added to the meeting agenda as a potential disciplinary matter. And it says they only had one measure available to them which was to impose an access prohibition on Mrs Agg.

Mrs Agg, who is not a committee member, said was shocked to find out she had been the subject of a code of conduct investigation.

She said: “It came as a complete surprise. We are a community, I don’t understand how the code of conduct brings people together.

“I find it rather divisive. To be honest, I’m not speaking out about this for me. It’s for any other poor soul who gets caught up in this.

“You might not be able to take your grandchild to the recreation ground or you might not be able to go and watch them playing cricket on a Sunday in the summer. It’s so divisive and I don’t understand what it is they want to achieve.”

The committee unanimously decided to impose the ban for a minimum of three calendar months from January 1, 2023.

Woodmancote Village Hall Committee and the parish council have been approached for further comment but none was forthcoming by the time of publication. Cheryl Agg was banned from