A COMMUNITY'S plan to demolish and replace its rundown village hall with a new building is moving forward a decade after it was first put to residents.

Oldhamstocks Community Association has lodged plans with East Lothian Council to demolish the 'Nissen hut’ style building, which has looked out over the village green since 1952.

The proposal includes demolishing part of the stone wall of the village green, with plans to use the stone as part of the new building.

A design statement said that the cost of maintaining the current hall had become too great.

It said: “The existing village hall in Oldhamstocks dates from 1952 and has served the local community well over many years but the building fabric is now showing signs of age, it requires regular maintenance and the operational costs are also becoming an increasing burden.”

The community association first suggested plans to replace the hall to residents in 2013 and a survey found 61 per cent in favour of a new building.

Since then, the association has seen members leave and new people come in over the years, and recently it became a registered Scottish charity.

Now it has lodged the application for permission to demolish the current hall and says that a separate application is also being lodged for permission to build its replacement.

Architects Camerons Strachan Yuill said that the village was unusual as it had a large central green with a hall looking out onto it.

They said: “Such a large and open village green makes Oldhamstocks special.

“The combination of a south-facing village hall located next to a large village green is quite rare.

“The village green, defined and bounded by natural stone walls and the position of the current village hall, is the first public room of the community.

“The village hall is the second, complementary, public room of the community.

“Much of the social activity in the community takes place in these special communal spaces.”

They said that the new hall, which would be built on the site of the old one, would be “modest and meaningful”.

And they said that continued community consultations over the years and the pandemic had seen the design evolve with more calls for sustainable and renewable energy considerations.

They said: “Reusing the existing stone from the site for the flanking walls to the entrance and, where possible, locally sourced materials such as untreated larch timber cladding for the external elevations will result in a village hall that has strong sustainability credentials.”

The plan can be viewed on East Lothian Council’s planning portal.