Repton residents have voted in favour of paying more council tax to refurbish their village hall after taking part in a referendum held by the parish council.

Earlier this year, they were asked if they thought Repton Parish Council should take out a loan to demolish the current hall in Askew Grove and rebuild another in its place. According to the village hall's website, the hall is well past its 25-year design life and one of the columns inside the building is suffering from rot. It says that the current hall wastes energy and is very expensive to heat.

The rebuild is set to cost £730,000 and more than £300,000 has already been raised by local residents, but the parish council felt the only way to find the rest of the money was to take out a public works loan of £415,000 and to this end it asked if people they were prepared to see their council tax bills rise by £20 each per year to foot the bill for the loan.

A public works loan is awarded by the government that comes from the National Loans Fund. The Public Loan Works Board issues loans to local authorities and other specified bodies for works in local communities, such as the proposed plans in Repton.

The village hall is set to be rebuilt

There was an original village hall in High Street opposite St Wystan's School, but it was destroyed by a fire in 1960. It was then replaced with the current building in 1973. The hall is run by the Repton Village Hall Management Committee.

Ballot papers were posted to local residents and each household had one vote.

The votes were counted on Wednesday, November 15 and the results have now been revealed. The referendum saw 78 per cent per cent of households vote in favour of the proposals.

Chairman of Repton Village Hall, Kyran Farrell, said: "This is a tremendous vote of support for the life of our community and we are most grateful to everyone who has participated positively in this referendum. The active referendum debate has resulted in the clearest possible evidence of strong community wide support for the Parish Council to financially back the Village Hall Committee's proposals.

The Repton Village Hall Management Committee is most grateful to the many people who have worked hard to make this referendum the undoubted success it has been, as well as to the appeal committee who have organised more than 50 successful and enjoyable events for all ages and interests - from ghost works for adults to Halloween parties for children and from pig racing to murder mystery evenings. In the meantime, while we wait for confirmation of Parish Council support, fund-raising activities continue as the more that we have in the kitty, the less the burdon will be on the local taxpayer."

The proposals and the result of the public consultation will be submitted to the Department of Communities and Local Government in London, which will review the project's affordability, the adequacy of the local public consultation undertaken and the evidence of residents' support.