Villageers are set for a council tax increase after the parish council agreed to apply for a £100,000 loan to build a new village hall in Seagry.

A corrugated iron hall which serves Seagry, Startley and Great Somerford is in a “terrible” state with no room to expand and poor parking.

A site has been found on which to build a new hall, but funding has been a problem after the National Lottery rejected a joint bid from the three villages Seagry Parish Council chairman Jane Clarke said the decision to apply to the Public Works Loans Board was unanimous.

“The current hall is in a pretty terrible state, there is no room to expand and parking is a problem,” she said.

“Now is a great time to take out a loan with interest rates so low.

“The last thing you want to lose in your village is a pub, if you have one, and a village hall. They are vital for community life.”

It is estimated to pay for the loan the precept would be increased by 75p per week over 50 years.

Mrs Clarke said: “It would not be a vast amount of money on each household in the village.

“It would mean for the next 50 years the people in the village would be paying for the hall which seemed the fairest way to do it.

“We haven’t had any complaints yet, all the parish councillors have their windows intact.”

The existing building, which used to be an art studio and also changing rooms for Seagry Cricket Club, became the village hall in the 1950s when the cricket club built a new pavilion.

Mrs Clarke described the rejection of the lottery bid as “an awful setback.”

She thought Seagry’s location near the M4 would mean that a hall could be let for small conferences.

Hullavington had raised money to replace its village hall through the precept and is now seeing a profit. The loan will need to be approved by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.