Charging For Halls?

Hackney Council has a draft new policy for hiring out estate community halls, under which:

Residents will no longer be able to use their estate's hall free of charge for events such as kids’ birthday parties.
Anyone holding a one-off event must pay £150 deposit.
Groups hiring a hall would have to pay more.
TRAs will pay utility bills, currently paid by the Council.

The effects will be to:

reduce the service that TRAs provide to residents

worsen Hackney’s shortage of affordable, non-licensed venues

tie TRA reps in red tape.

Does the Council want this?! Or is it an ideologically-driven attempt to marketise a community facility? (A while ago, the Council floated the idea of forcing TRAs to charge 'market rates' for hall hire.) Or maybe they are just control freaks.

The ‘consultation’ period ends soon: make sure you tell Hackney Council your view.