Monmouthshire County Council's decision to close Raglan's Old School at the end of this week has angered local users, whose Christmas arrangements have been cast into disarray. Local resident, Amanda Vaughan, accused the council of being "unthinking, unsympathetic bullies" (see Letters, Page 5) after learning that local groups who use the hall, including the Brownies and local history and art groups, had been given just two weeks notice to vacate the building. Village Hall Chairman Trevor Phillips agreed that the decision had come at "a daft time." "They've known about the safety issues for many years and it wouldn't take a lot to put problems such as emergency lighting right. "It's caused quite a row in the village but there's nothing like a row to make people pull together and we're hopeful that things will even out before long, and that local groups who use the school can be accommodated in other venues." In a statement, the council say that a recent Fire Safety Risk Assessment report showed that the old Raglan School building failed to meet the standards required for public use so the building would be closing on Friday 30th November. Mike Moran, Leisure and Recreation Manager told the Beacon: "We understand that the groups who use the hall will find the closure of the building inconvenient but we are keen to stress that we must put people's safety at the top of our list of priorities. "We are closing the building swiftly because, as long as it is open, people in the building are at risk. We will do our very best to find alternative venues in the area to accommodate groups who would normally use the old school so that they can continue with their plans for Christmas celebrations." At a meeting of Raglan Conservation Group, the Chairman, Dilwyn Watkins asked Monmouthshire County Council Leader Andrew Crump to explain the council's stance. Councillor Crump said he had only just found out about the matter and had discovered that the council had carried out an inspection a few months ago. Criticising the way officers had handled the report, he said he had told the council that the old school should not be shut down on the 30th November. Even though the building had been perfectly safe for years, changes in legislation meant that the council could not insure this building for public use in its present condition, he said. Brownie leader Janet Thomas told the meeting that unless the group could use the Infants School Hall they would be unable to continue. Rachel Spaven said it was unacceptable that the Mothers and Toddlers Group had been given just two weeks notice to quit the building. The group was growing all the time and attracted a lot of people from surrounding areas into the village. It would be a huge loss if they were forced to close after all the hard work they had done building it up. Dilwyn Watkins pointed out that the building had been updated and improved previously at great expense and asked why these issues weren't addressed then and what were the costs involved. Godfrey Whittall said that there was a need for groups to continue searching for new places to use and as there was no extra money available, he suggested that Raglan Community Council should be asked to support the works. Dilwyn Watkins said he would take the matter up at the next meeting of Raglan Community Council. Raglan Conservation Group have invited Mike Moran to their next meeting
