HALL HIRING

Hiring of Church Premises

In line with good stewardship, we may hire out the church premises when not in use by the church. This
may be to organisations who share our aims and objectives and/or to generate income for ERBC.
Any arrangement to hire the premises must be approved by the Deacons, who will have regard to the
Guideline Leaflet PC10: Hiring of Church Premises produced by the Baptist Union, and which is appended
to this policy document.
Applications to hire the premises will be considered on a case by case basis. However, the following must
be observed:
 Use of the premises for religious or spiritual worship will only be permitted for Christian worship, in
accordance with the articles of faith in the ERBC rules.
 Use of the premises is not permitted where this would conflict with the purposes of ERBC, its doctrines
or beliefs; or where such use may cause offence to attendees of ERBC and/or other Christians.
 Use of the premises will not be permitted by or for a political party.
 Where applicable, the user of the premises will be required to provide evidence of their own public
liability insurance cover.
 If the premises are to be used by an organisation for children’s activities they will be required to provide
written confirmation that they have a child protection policy and use the Criminal Records Bureau
disclosure service.
 No smoking or gambling is allowed on the premises and alcohol must not be supplied or consumed on
the premises.
Hire fees will be agreed on a case by case basis, taking into account the length of time the premises are
required, the space and facilities required, whether the arrangement is for a regular or one-off use, whether
the user is a community or Christian group, connected to a church member or regular attendee, or an
individual or commercial entity unconnected to ERBC.
As a guide, a one-off use of the church lounge together with shared access to toilets and kitchen facilities
by a local community group or local authority would be considered at £20 per hour. For use of the
baptistery an additional £50 would be considered to cover additional heating and water costs.
Those requesting use of the premises will:
 Be asked to complete and return the application form appended to this policy.
 Be provided with the terms and conditions appended to this policy.
 Be required to pay a deposit of £50 to secure their booking. This is in addition to the cost of the hire
and will be refunded within seven days from their use of the premises unless they have failed to comply
with the hiring terms and conditions.