STEVE Dancey and Paul Macdonald have each pledged £100 towards the Civic Trust's plan for the Town Hall. ''I'm very keen to register public support for this project as the Trust has a good track record of achievement in this field,'' said Steve. For Civic Trust click HERE
NEW ERA FOR TOWN HALL
THE 'stain on the town's heart' in Warminster is set to be
restored as the well respected and experienced Civic Trust and the
Preservation Trust joins forces to restore the Town Hall to its former
glory.
"This is the landmark building in the town," said Civic Trust
chairman Michael Heaton.
"It is entwined in the history of the town," Mr. Heaton told the
annual general meeting last night.
"The building is looking
particularly shabby.
"It is a perfectly salvageable building. We have been inside. It is do-able."
He explained that other towns had done it.
''It was the open forum meeting that said the Civic Trust should be
dealing with it." explained Mr. Heaton.
"I would like us to have a
general discussion.
"Warminster Civic Trust should launch a public subscription campaign to buy it for a trust to look after."
The history of the building was briefly outlined and the current valuation was put at 'around £350,000'.
"Sounds a lot but a lot of you are living in a house worth more than that" said Mr. Heaton.
"Look at what has been achieved by the Preservation Trust and Eliabeth Collyns."
Since the open forum meeting last year the civic trust officers have been waiting to see what other organisations were doing.
"The town council does not want anything to do with the town hall," said Cllr. Chris March.
"It is for us people to decide."
The members raised questions about the work of the Warminster and
Villages Development Trust. They had been approached months ago after
the open forum and at that time were looking into the issue.
"We have waited and went to see them a fortnight ago," explained Mr.
 Heaton.
"Even before we could make a suggestion we had our heads ripped off by one their most vocal members!"
Dewey House resonated to applause after one person rose to speak passionately,
"I have recently returned to the town after 20 years away," said
Victoria Coombes.
"I feel ashamed. The fact it has become such an
eyesore is a disgrace.
"I have three proposals. A meeting for the whole town to put
suggestions. We form a Friends of the old town hall and the (Warminster
people) website will back it."
Cllr. Rob Fryer said 'remember negotiations with the receiver' but
the meeting still went ahead to vote in favour of organising a public
meeting
'If that agrees then a public subscription scheme of pledges will
be launched and the Victorian Society and the Lottery Heritage Fund and
others will be approached,' was then successfully proposed with Cllr.
Pip Ridout voicing her abstention.
Paul Macdonald immediately put his hand up to catch the attention of the chairman and said.: "I pledge £100."
This prompted several others to do the same.
"Thank you," said Mr. Heaton. "George Jolley has already pledged £100."
*The words 'Town Hall a stain on the town's heart' are used in
the Civic Pride section of the vision document on
visionforwarminster.co.uk which launched the public outcry over the
state of the building over two years ago.
LOOK WHAT COULD BE ACHIEVED
 DEVIZES TOWN HALL
The home of Devizes Town Council - in the heart of the town
 MARLBOROUGH TOWN HALL
The home of Marlborough Town Council - in the heart of the town
CORSHAM TOWN HALL
The home of Corsham Town Council - in the heart of the town
ROMSEY TOWN HALL
The home of Romsey Town Council - in the heart of the town
WARMINSTER TOWN HALL
The home of pigeons - in the heart of the town
WHY SHOULD WE BE LEFT WITH THIS? Why should the bunch of people running the town council be allowed to waste 800,000 pounds on moving their desks to a white elephant building (the Assembly Rooms)?
The Town Hall building needs to become the home of Warminster Town Council - it would have so many knock-on benefits and would hugely restore the morale of the town and uplift the whole historic town centre. Our town hall should be a symbol of the town's strength not a badge of its decrepitude.
Other towns have taken over their town halls - Romsey and Corsham both within the past 10 years.
Of course those who don't like this idea (Why???) say it has never been used as a town hall. No of course it hasn't as town councils have only existed since 1973 and by then the blinkered blitherers had taken over our civic affairs. BUT the Town Hall has been an important civic building in past decades and is the proper home for the town council as it assumes greater powers.
The public view is clear - they don't want the downmarket Assembly Rooms as the main civic building but has greater aspiration for this historic market town.
TOWN POLL WAS HELD ON THURSDAY 22 APRIL -
Q Do you approve of the town council's proposed move to the Assembly Rooms ?
RESULT
no 540 (91.8 per cent)
yes 48 (8.2 per cent)
Look beyond Trowbridge and Westbury
MEMBERS
of the Visionforwarminster team have considerable experience of how
some other local communities organise their affairs - and we should all
be prepared to look beyond Trowbridge and Westbury for our inspiration.
Space is clearly a problem at Dewey House but this could be overcome by
stripping out the existing council chamber and using that room as
offices and holding council meetings in the main hall.
Special modern furniture that stores away can be used in such
situations so that when the floor space of the hall is needed the
furniture can be stored or reconfigured to the shape required.
Many other local authorities operate this system - locally Test Valley
Borough Council which uses the upper hall at its Guildhall in Andover
for council
 meetings and it works very well. (They also manage to set a far lower council tax).
The photo sees the upper hall of the Andover Guildhall prepared for the borough council's tax setting meeting this year.
If we were to operate such a system at Dewey House it would be perfectly workable.
''There are always those in Warminster who will try to come up with
fatuous reasons why we can't do this but we need a can do attitude
rather than a can spend a million attitude in these difficult times,''
said Steve Dancey, who regularly attends council meetings in many towns
in a very wide variety of establishments.
Ideally and in the longer term we must establish Warminster's repuation
as a quality town and to do this it is imperative that the main civic
building (the Town Hall) is the focal point of civic affairs.
Andover was lucky as the council there retained its Guildhall ( pictured below) which dates from same period as Warminster Town Hall.
''In past times this building was used by the UDC as the place where
royalty was welcomed to the town and it should be a prestige location
again,'' said
 Steve.
''I'm very sad that the existing town council doesn't share my
aspirations for Warminster in this respect; I have tried hard to see
why as I know many townsfolk do.
''Those of us who have lived here a long time - often all our lives -
feel the loss of that town hall building very keenly especially when it
is coupled with the loss, in 1981, of the Regal Cinema just 200 yards
away.
''If we are to go for a huge loan I'm sure more people would support the idea of spending it wisely on our town hall.''
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