A ROW about a village hall and the potential sale of land in trust may have been quelled.

A meeting of Silchester villagers unanimously approved a legal document which outlines new rights, responsibilities and a new management structure for Silchester Village Hall trustees.

All 68 residents who voted at a general meeting last Thursday were in favour of a new document, which replaces attachments of the original 1927 document.

A new committee of 12 managing trustees was also appointed at the meeting, which was adjourned from July 25.

There has been much discussion over the last few months about whether the new document would affect the ability of trustees to sell the village hall and land.

The trustees hope to raise £400,000 to fund improvements at the hall which is on the corner of Whistlers Lane and Little London Road.

The sale of a plot of land adjacent to the hall would raise a substantial chunk of the cash, but is not a universally popular plan.

There was some confusion about whether the new document would mean that the trustees would gain the power to sell the land without residents’ permission, but outgoing trust chairman Stuart Sinclair said that the opposite was true.

He said: “The new schedule gives residents a say in any disposal of trust property.” He explained that the previous governing document entitled trustees to sell land without the approval of the village, if it was for a new hall.

Jonathan Murdock, who was elected as new chairman at the meeting, said that the sale of land was still in the pipeline, explaining: “It will be reviewed by the new trustees as one of the options open to them. The trustees have been appointed under the terms of the new trust deed, which means that they have to report back to the village on such matters.”

The new set-up means trustees can now be democratically elected, replacing the former system of people becoming trustees by invitation.