FESTIVAL HALL

Public Consultation

ROADSHOW

"Festival hall for Variety"

THE RESULTS

INTRODUCTION

Running since September 24 – December 17 2021, the public consultation invited the public to complete a short survey. This consultation resulted in over 500+ comments being made by the public through various events.

Festival Hall Vaccination Centre

Our public consultation working party spotted a unique opportunity to target Petersfield's young adults by harnessing their interest in the proposals when they visited the building for their covid vaccination.

Coffee Morning in Central Petersfield

Parishioners and visitors to the regular weekly coffee morning at St Peters Church could view the proposals in detail and give their feedback.

Herne Farm Q&A Sessions

Several presentations of the Festival Hall refurbishment proposals were offered at the Herne Farm Leisure Centre where our Town Councillors and Architect were on hand to answer any questions.

Variety Event

An official launch event was held on the Town Square midway through the consultation and opened by local actor Hugh Bonneville. This event offered a variety of entertainment such as singing, dancing, music, magic and puppetry to entice and inspire the Petersfield Community.

Rams Walk

Officers & Members of the Town Council manned the PTC gazebo at Rams Walk over weekends targeting local residents and encouraging them to complete our questionnaire.

Petersfield Community Centre

A presentation and Q&A was held at the Community Centre.

Avenue Pavilion

An exhibition of the proposals was displayed at the Avenue Pavilion and later moved to the Town Hall for public display.

Question Time

Our public consultation working party joined forces with local community radio Shine to answer callers questions. Our Public Halls Chairman, Architect, An Officer from the working group and a key user representative were on the panel.

Christmas Light Switch On

The popular Christmas Light Switch On event at the end of November provided another perfect opportunity to reach a cross-section of the Petersfield community. Our public consultation team were out and about again at the Petersfield Christmas Market.

Local Press

The Petersfield Post were supportive in publicising our roadshow and details on the proposals.

What do you use the facility for currently?

What else would you like to see the facility used for?

What would attract you to the Festival Hall?

We were encouraged by the fact that no one had chosen to put their pin in the ‘demolish’ box!

An interactive ‘pin a zone’ game was devised in order to gauge where public would like to see money spent on the project.

It was felt that this activity was extremely successful in providing a very simplified visual representation of the zones and also presented an opportunity to engage in conversation with the public.

We invited two valued and experienced key users to assist with our facilitation workshop where we grouped common themes in order to build a picture of what the priorities were from the public response.

KEY AREAS OF PUBLIC INTEREST

Retain Art Deco Design.
Support for Cafe.
Desire for increase in smaller spaces for hire.
Support for Environmental Improvements.
Improve Toilet Facilities.
Call to improve comfort of seating.
Request to consider ALL areas of accessibility including those with sensory impairments.
Some residents wanted to see the main entrance moved to the south side of the building. Many suggested that it should be more welcoming.
Work to kitchen extension (zone 1) received considerable support.
Various feedback regarding lighting, sound and ventilation.

There was much support for the proposals but equally there were of course residents who have their reservations. For full details view the report here: