Residents' Association

In January 2000, a public meeting was held to discuss one part of the planning agreement (Section 104 Agreement) relating to Hatton Park, to provide a community centre. At that meeting the residents, representatives of the Parish and the District and County Councils discussed the type of facility needed and the best way of ensuring that Hatton Park residents’ views were obtained.

At that time there was no-one able to represent the views of residents living in Hatton Park or to be any sort of advocate for future residents, so a group of residents proposed forming the Hatton Park residents’ association.

The newly formed group began to meet regularly and immediately began the enormous task of liaising with the developers and the local councils to ensure that the project would be realised.

During the course of the meetings it was decided that the association could and would perform many functions, for the initial task of the residents’ liaison with the developers, to acting as advocates for the residents on a variety of subjects and raising money for the association as well as other community groups within Hatton in association with Hatton Joint Organisation.

Over the course of 2000, the need to formalise the legal standing of the Hatton Park residents' association became clear and the committee decided that the best way to fulfill the obligation of the association would be to register as a charity.

The framework for the proposed charity began to take shape, identifying the various roles and responsibilities took time and 14 June 2001 an Extraordinary General Meeting was held to formally adopt the proposed constitution and make an application to the Charities Commission for charitable status.

The process for application to the Charities Commission was a very long and stringent one, but eventually with legal advice we were finally granted charitable status in January 2002.

The aims of the Hatton Park Residents' Association (HPRA) are very simple and are as follows:

• • To represent the interests of the residents of Hatton Park and the surrounding area

  • To establish the village hall and to run it successfully for the community

  • To promote the preservation of and improvement of Hatton Park for the residents

  • To be involved with other local charities.

The HPRA worked with the developers of the hall, AC Lloyd, throughout the design and construction phases and we were responsible for purchasing all the furniture and fittings. Hatton Park Village Hall was officially opened by Dave Willets on 6 September 2003.

To learn more about the Hatton Park Residents' Association or to join the committee, please contact mail@hattonpark.net.