Church Hall
History and Ownership
St Simons hall sits just next to the church up the hill on Faringdon road. It was actually built before the church building and was used for worship while the church building itself was built and has been used for generations for both church and community activities. Sadly since the church closed the hall has sat derelict for many years and when the decision was being made for St Matts to begin exploring starting a new worshipping community at St Simons it was felt that the church were not in a position to take on both large derelict buildings and so the ownership and responsibility for the church hall was taken on by the Diocese of Exeter board of finance (EDBF). The Diocese is the central organisation of the Church of England in our area (basically the whole of Devon).
The Current Situation
The Diocese (EDBF) have secured the building and paid insurance costs but since the building is in a bad state and would require a huge amount of work to restore (they have estimated nearly 1 million pounds), they are exploring the possibility of selling the land for development as housing and have done some initial capacity studies to this end. As a church we have asked the Diocese to give us some time to explore any other possible options and to consult with the local community because we are not sure this is the best use of the land (though it may be the only possibility) and we want to know how the local community feel about this too. EDBF has agreed to give us until November 2025 to come up with any alternative proposals to consider but the decision will ultimately rest with them.
Community Meeting
We met in March 2025 with local residents and with the Bishop and Archdeacon of Plymouth (representatives of the Diocese). Thank you so much to those who came- we had around 60 people present at the meeting. The historic and current situation of the hall was laid out and residents were given opportunities to reflect on the needs of the community, to share concerns about the future of the hall and to give ideas of what they would love to see done with the space. There were loads of great ideas and enthusiasm alongside worries about things like housing and parking and some realism and reminders from EDBF of the scale of the challenge which may just not be possible, and it was particularly wonderful to connect with so many local people. You can read a full summary of the evening with ideas presented by clicking below.
The Future
Though the decision making over the church hall is not ultimately in our hands we have committed as a church to exploring every possibility we can over the next few months in order to bring some robust options to the Diocese in November for them to consider. We are sadly not in a financial position to simply sign on take on a large scale restoration project whilst we are also slowly restoring the church building and there is vital work to be done there. However we would like to get together accurate information for how much it would cost to restore the hall building, or for any alternatives and will be exploring grant funding and partnering with other organisations. If you find yourself in a position to contribute in any way- particularly if you have any related skills, are project manager, tradesperson, grant maker, fundraiser, surveyor, architect, construction, demolition etc or if you are from an organisation that might like to use the hall in the future. We would love to hear from you!
Get in Touch
We would love to hear from you about the hall. Please email on hello@stmplymouth.org.uk and fill in the quick form below:
