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Meeting room terms and conditions

General conditions

  1. ESCC reserves the right to refuse room hire to any group or organisation. This includes groups and events that might be seen as politically or religiously extreme and campaigns promoting one side of a controversial subject. The hirer must ensure that the venue is not used by any groups or speakers in support of any extremist ideology. Should such beliefs or practices come to light following a room hire agreement, ESCC reserves the right to immediately cancel it. The judgement of the service on what is acceptable use will be final.
  2. If rooms are hired for open events, any publicity must make it clear that East Sussex County Council does not necessarily support the views expressed at the event.
  3. The hirer acknowledges that East Sussex County Council has a duty under Section 26 of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 in the exercise of its functions to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” (the “Prevent Duty”). The hirer shall ensure that it uses the relevant library space in such a way as to satisfy the Prevent Duty. 
  4. ESCC will provide the venue at the times agreed in the Booking Agreement Form. It is the responsibility of the group to ensure that they use the facilities, enter and leave the building within the agreed timescale. Rooms are hired by hour, and hirers must finish before the end of their hire period. Anyone who overruns their time may find that future bookings may be refused or cancelled, and/or that an additional fee is applied.
  5. The letting only authorises use of the rooms hired and the normal means of access to it. Special requirements should be discussed with the Library Manager.
  6. The member of the group/organisation taking responsibility for using the premises shall:
    • undertake responsibility for premises with the library staff prior to using the building and agree the times and means of entering the building
    • collect ‘meeting room pack’ and security fob from library staff
    • ensure that during the occupation of the building no outer door is left unlocked and unattended
    • ensure that on departure all lights and electrical items are switched off and all relevant doors are locked
    • keep fobs and keys securely and hand them in to library staff at the end of your booking and make no copies of any keys or fobs
    • ensure that they are fully aware of any related Risk Assessments and necessary actions
    • contact the library staff immediately if any problems related to the above arise
    • inform the library staff if they wish to nominate another responsible person to take over their role.
  7. The group/organisation accepts responsibility for loss or damage to the property or contents resulting from using Library premises, including IT equipment and book/ media materials. Loss or damage must be notified to the library staff immediately.
  8. Alcohol must not be sold or consumed on the premises.
  9. Live or recorded music must not be played on the premises without the specific approval of the Library Manager and the necessary licence must be gained by the group/organisation. The license must be witnessed by the Library Manager prior to the hire. If live music is performed a Performing Rights Society (PRS) Licence is required; if recorded music is played a PRS and a Public Performance Licence is required.
  10. A responsible adult must be in attendance at all times, and the person taking responsibility for the premises must be over 18.
  11. Smoking and animals (apart from assistance dogs) are not permitted anywhere in the building at any time.
  12. No persons other than those directly involved in the activities of the group/organisation using the meeting rooms shall be allowed into the room.
  13. The group/organisation must ensure the omission of nuisance or disturbance to other users of the premises. Please be aware that the meeting rooms are not totally soundproof.
  14. The group/organisation agrees to give the fullest notice possible of any cancellation of the booking. The Council may still make a charge if less than 14 days’ notice is given of a cancellation. Cancellations with less than seven days’ notice will incur a 50% charge, cancellations with less than 24 hours notice will incur a 100% charge. The Council reserves the right to cancel the booking should unforeseen circumstances arise which affect or preclude the use of the building.
  15. In the event of unacceptable behaviour or risks engendered by the hirer any future bookings will be jeopardised.

  16. Ongoing room bookings may be booked up to six months in the future. ESCC reserves the right to review all ongoing bookings in the event that multiple sessions are cancelled or payments are not made in a timely fashion.

Insurance

The group/organisation using the premises will either have their own Public Liability Insurance in place with an indemnity limit of £5million OR, if they do not already have their own PL insurance policy in place, the Council can assist by using its own policy which provides an extension to cover third party hirer’s liability for non-commercial voluntary community groups.

There is no premium recharge for the extension, however departments are required to keep a record of all hirings (hiring organisation & duration) as the Insurance Team will request this data once a year for the purposes of renewing our policies.

The intention of the Hirers Liability extension is to provide cover for non-commercial organisations, voluntary and community groups who do not already have existing PL insurance of their own. Large charities, political or religious groups and commercial organisations are expected to have their own policy in place.

  • The policy must cover the group/organisations legal liability to third parties for loss, damage or injury and contain an Indemnity to Principles clause.
  • HLI is not available to commercial, political or religious groups, who must have their own Public Liability Insurance in place.

Facilities and equipment

  1. By arrangement with the Library Manager, certain equipment may be made available for use by the hirer. In this case, they will be highlighted on the Booking Agreement Form. No other facilities or equipment should be used, moved or interfered with in any way.
  2. The meeting rooms will be left clean, tidy and restored to their original layout by the group. No furniture other than chairs and tables may be moved. Under no circumstances may any item be attached to any wall by any means. In the event that a room needs additional cleaning or labour to return the room to its original condition, an extra charge may be made.
  3. Wires from any equipment used will be kept tidily and not allowed to become a trip hazard.
  4. The use of ladders is not permitted.
  5. Any additional equipment required will be put in place by library staff prior to hire and are not to be moved by the hirer.
  6. Any equipment lent to the hirer must only be used for the duration of the booking and returned to library staff at the end of the hire period. Failure to do so may result in a charge to cover to full replacement cost of any equipment.
  7. Wifi provided by the Council must not be used to access illegal websites, or to undertake illegal activities, including, but not limited to, hacking, spamming, violating copyright or software license agreements. You must also agree to a “fair use” policy and avoid any activities that may require large amounts of bandwidth and data usage, including but not limited to, using peer to peer or file sharing software, downloading/uploading large files, and streaming.
  8. You must also agree to not use the wifi facility for viewing live TV broadcasts (for which public libraries are not licensed).
  9. The Council cannot guarantee that the wifi facility will be compatible with any equipment or hardware.
  10. The Council cannot be held responsible for the privacy or security of your activities. The Council urges caution when undertaking financial transactions online, and will not accept any liability for any loss of any kind (without limitation) that may arise from use of the wifi facility provided by the Council, including compensatory, direct, indirect or consequential losses arising from the use of the wifi facility for this purpose.
  11. The Council assumes no responsibility for the safety of equipment or for laptop configurations, security, or data files resulting from connection to the wifi facility. Use of the wifi facility is entirely at your own risk, and the Council will not accept any liability for any loss of any kind (without limitation) that may arise from use of such equipment on the Council’s computers, including compensatory, direct, indirect or consequential losses, loss of data, income or profit, loss of or damage to property, loss of opportunity, and claims of third parties.
  12. It is your responsibility to provide antivirus protection for you equipment or hardware and library staff cannot provide technical assistance to patrons using the wireless network. Staff cannot configure your laptop, wireless adapter or mobile device. The Council cannot accept responsibility for damage incurred to your equipment or hardware through your failure to protect it through appropriate software or by incomplete security settings.

Fire precautions

  1. The group/organisation member responsible for the premises shall be in charge and present at the premises during the whole hire period. This person shall not be engaged in any duties that will prevent them from exercising general supervision, and ensure they are familiar with all fire exits and the fire drill. A copy of the fire drill will be provided by library staff.
  2. The responsible person will keep a fire list detailing all those present during the hire in order to account for all persons in the case of an evacuation.
  3. All fire doors, gangways, corridors, staircases and external passageways shall be kept entirely free from obstruction and shall not be used as cloakrooms.
  4. Fire doors shall be kept closed at all times.
  5. All exit doors shall be available for exit during the whole time that the group/organisation are on the premises.
  6. Mats or other floor coverings shall be secured so as not to be a source of danger to users.

Indemnity

The hiring group/organisation agrees:

  • To fully and effectively indemnify the Council against all liabilities, costs, claims, proceedings, actions and expenses arising through the use or occupation of the library whether in respect of any injury to or the death of any person or damage to any property whether caused by any wilful act or negligence of the hiring group/organisation.
  • To fully and effectively indemnify the Council against all liabilities, costs, claims, proceedings, actions and expenses arising from the hiring group/organisation’s failure to obtain any consents or licences that may be required by law.