Village hall water rates

Villages have lost their local shop, pub and post office. A village hall is the final strand which holds a village community together, often providing the only opportunity for the elderly and lonely, in particular, to enjoy social interaction. Volunteers give hours of their time on committees to protect this last vestige of village life. To add the additional cost of water rates could be the straw which breaks the back of village hall finances and deals a death blow to small communities. Many halls were not even made aware of what amounts to a stealth tax and therefore not given the opportunity to protest. If the Scottish Government is serious about social cohesion this unfair, unecessary financial burden, which will raise very little income but prove extremely costly to local communities, MUST change it's mind.