A FIVE-YEAR struggle to secure a new village hall in Sutton under Whitestonecliffe may be abandoned owing to villagers' apathy.

The village institute committee distributed questionnaires to 120 households to determine whether villagers wanted a new hall, but received only 39 responses.

Of those, 35 said they wanted a new hall and 29 said they would be prepared to work for it.

Committee member David Walkman told a meeting of the institute on Monday: "What a display of apathy. All those people who did not return those surveys automatically gave a negative response.

"We are going to give people one more chance to have their say. They have had a lot of time to get their act together, and if they are not bothered then this charity will cease to exist."

He said that if the cause was abandoned, money raised on its behalf would be put into a trust fund for the benefit of charities or groups.

The committee agreed to conduct a more direct survey, and throughout the week members of the committee have been visiting every household in the village, putting the two question to residents.

The survey was completed yesterday, and the results are being compiled.

"This is the last chance saloon," said acting institute chairman, Dr Jill Wight. "I am very discouraged by this.

"We have put a great deal of time and effort into this over the years, but because of the extremely poor response the committee must seriously consider whether we should bother pursuing it."

The hall has fallen into a state of disrepair, but is used for village activities and by the school during the day as extra teaching space.

The institute's proposal to buy a site for a new hall gathered momentum as a former garage site, one of the few remaining development land sites in the village, is due to be auctioned on May 11.

Moving the village hall would give the school an opportunity to buy the site, but concerns have been raised about the financial implications of this on school funds.

Mr Walkman said: "This hall is gradually deteriorating and it is not fit for us or for the school.

"We are loathe to put money in when it could be going into a new hall, rather than something with such a limited life-span."

Dr Wight said: "The results of the survey will be crucial because we will decide whether the charity is to be wrapped up, and if not, whether we should attempt to buy the garage site."

The results will be considered at a meeting of the committee on May 9 at 7pm in the hall.