The largest settlement in Fenland – and the surrounding region – without a dedicated community facility
Elm has no village hall, no community centre, and no equivalent secular space available to the whole community on open and equal terms. This page sets out the evidence for a striking fact: Elm is the only settlement of any significant size in Fenland – or in the wider surrounding region – without one.
The evidence covers six local authority areas: Fenland (Elm’s home district), South Cambridgeshire, East Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, and South Holland in Lincolnshire. Across all six, no settlement of comparable size to Elm without a dedicated secular community facility has been found.
How the evidence was gathered
Settlements were identified from adopted or draft local plan settlement hierarchies for each district. Community facilities were confirmed through charity registers, local authority records, parish council websites, and publicly available directory sources. A facility is counted only where a dedicated secular community space — a village hall, community centre, or equivalent – has been confirmed as existing and available to the whole community on open and equal terms.
Population figures are drawn from the sources cited for each district. Mid-2018 estimates from the Fenland Local Plan are used for Fenland settlements to enable like-for-like comparison with other settlements in the hierarchy. Information is current at May 2026.
Fenland – the headline finding
In Fenland, every settlement with a recorded population above 130 persons has a dedicated secular community facility; except Elm. At approximately 1,690 people (mid-2018 estimate, Fenland Local Plan), Elm is thirteen times larger than the largest settlement in the district without one. Settlements smaller than a quarter of Elm’s size have a village hall. Elm does not.
The wider region
The same picture holds across the surrounding region. In South Cambridgeshire, a 2025 community facilities audit physically confirmed facilities across 84 parishes; the four parishes identified as lacking a facility all have populations substantially below Elm’s. In East Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, every settlement in the respective local plan hierarchies has a confirmed facility – the smallest has fewer than 650 residents. In the Borough of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and in South Holland, Lincolnshire, the same pattern holds: every settlement in the hierarchy at comparable scale has a facility, with the smallest confirmed having around 300 residents.
The full evidence
The complete data: every settlement; its population; its named facility and its source is available to download:
Download the full community facility evidence tables (PDF)
This page was prepared in support of the All Saints’ Elm Repair and Renewal project. Population figures are drawn from the sources cited; facility confirmation is based on publicly available information current at May 2026.
Elm Community Hub 