Modernising Horley Community Centre - public engagement survey feedback (Sept 2025)

Creating a more welcoming building

We asked participants what physical changes to the building would make the centre feel more welcoming.

This question received 68 responses, 4 participants skipped it. Of those who responded, 57.4% of participants identified making the building easily accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs would make the centre feel more welcoming. 42.6% of participants felt that a more spacious layout, an open plan reception to improve visibility and more seating areas for all ages would make the centre feel more welcoming to everyone. The full breakdown of responses regarding what physical changes to the building would make Horley Community Centre feel more welcoming is shown in Figure 2.

Feedback provided in the ‘Other (please specify)’ field included suggestions for:

• Street presence: Welcoming signage on the outside of the building.
• Building systems: Improved temperature control and ventilation, solar panels.
• Facilities: Improved toilets, relocate the café to be visible from the street, larger hairdressers, outdoors socialising area.
• Services/programming/activities: Citizen advice.
• Accessibility: Disabled drop off bays.
• Improvements to the carpark

Figure 2. What physical changes to the building would make the centre feel more welcoming?

Likes and dislikes of spaces

The council is considering changing the layout of the ground floor and first floor to add more activity/meeting rooms. We asked participants to tell us what they like and dislike about the spaces on each floor.

This question received 32 responses, 40 participants skipped it. The comments of those who responded are summarised below, see Appendix 1 for the full responses.

What people dislike:

• Layout: corridors feel narrow, the first-floor landing is dull and disconnected, the downstairs space is cramped and not open-plan, the upstairs layout doesn’t fit activities, too many doors, wasted space in the ground floor main room, and the front desk isn’t visible enough and doesn’t advertise activities.
• Facilities: not enough baby changing areas, the first-floor stage feels outdated and unnecessary, the upstairs café is old-fashioned and cramped, hair/nail rooms are too small, and the upstairs kitchen isn’t used enough.
• Toilets: take up too much space, unpleasant, should not directly be accessible from the main room upstairs (as shown in the proposals), and are too far from the ground floor dining area.
• Accessibility: mobility scooters not allowed in the building, and downstairs walkways are too tight for people with disabilities or walking aids.
• Lighting: first-floor café/waiting area is very dark, boarded-up windows block natural light, dining area is dark, and some spaces feel dingy.
• Building systems: poor ventilation, windows don’t open fully, hard to see screens due to poor shading, and temperature control is required.
• Street presence: the building looks dark and cramped from outside, with no clear view inside.
• Decoration: the whole building needs modernising and brightening up.

What people like:

• Layout: the open-plan dining space.
• Facilities: the hall is a good space, the stage helps with seeing instructors in exercise classes, the downstairs main room is bright, and the upstairs kitchen works well for hirers.
• Lighting: some areas downstairs are bright and welcoming.

Other suggestions:

• Replace the fixed stage with a pull-out or removable one.
• Refresh the building with brighter decoration.
• Add more facilities: changing areas, private meeting spaces, banking services, sensory-friendly rooms, extra toilets, a large ground-floor events room, a bereavement café/counselling area, a better upstairs coffee shop.
• Modernise the reception area.
• Create flexible spaces upstairs and downstairs with partitioning.
• Apply for an alcohol licence