Village Halls and Community Buildings Audit

Devon Communities Together began carrying out the first ever audit of Village Halls across Devon in September 2022. The programme was funded by Devon County Council Public Health, One Devon NHS and DEFRA. The project completed in March 2024, having carried out 339 face-to-face Village Hall audits.

We already know that Devon’s Village Halls and Community Buildings are significant community assets, but we didn’t have comprehensive information about how they are used. The audit was designed to find out what these community assets offer and what they have the potential to offer. For example, could they be used as “health hubs” and/or reach out to ensure that they’re accessible to people who are lonely/marginalised/disadvantaged? Of course, this is ultimately up to the community/trustees to decide.

The data from these audits has been used to create an exclusive Community Asset Map of halls in Devon so that information about the halls can be found by searching certain criteria. This tool is straightforward to use and makes sourcing the right hall for your activity much easier. 

The Asset Map will be maintained initially through any changes being communicated to DCT for amendment: info@devoncommunities.org.uk 

Please note that mobile devices may experience issues accessing the Asset Map.  

The Village Hall Asset Map can be seen here.

How will the audit information be used?

The information is used to build a picture of the community buildings across the county. If there is particular interest in one area, DCT may bring community building committees together to support progress. We also hope that this increased data will help to attract funding streams.

DCT has used the data to populate reports on Devon Village Halls and also findings on a district level.  The final district reports are currently being written and will be sent to all the Village Halls that participated in the audit.

how DID YOU FIND the audit process?

Ian Huxtable on behalf of Stockleigh Pomeroy Village Hall said that his experience of the audit was good and the questions were straightforward to complete.

Jane Milton, on behalf of Dittisham Village Hall: “Having the audit of our hall was a positive experience - the questions were straightforward and it didn’t matter if there was one or two things I didn’t know. The DCT staff member was very friendly, and it provided the opportunity to hear what other Devon Village Halls are doing and to share knowledge and ideas, so I found it very useful."