Hot TOPICS  

ALMOST a year after Visionforwarminster called for the Town Hall to be brought back under public control the plans to do just that seem to be taking shape.

 

A very lukewarm and lethargic response has now been replaced with the public now rallying behind the idea of restoring the building repeatedly in the columns of the local Warminster Journal.

 

After front page coverage of the news the building was back on the market former Mayor Stephen Pearson has written to the Journal.

 

'Surely our elected representatives should prevail upon Wiltshire Council to reacquire the building, restore it to the condition it enjoyed when it was a publicly owned facility and return it to the ownership of the people of Warminster,' he writes.

 

The historic Town Hall donation to the town by Lord Bath ended up in the hands of the county council nearly forty years ago and was sold by them.

 

An idea by another former councillor, Michael Mounde, is that community bonds may be the way to raise the money, and that received the support of another correspondent Winifred Charman.

 

'Yes, money is tight for us all these days but a competitively priced Community Bond could be attractive both to individuals and local businesses,' she writes.

 

Another letter to the pages of the Warminster Journal by Roland Davies (sic) reminds the public that there is already a considerable community spirit shown towards the building as it was the first project of George Jolley's WETS 'keep Warminster tidy'  team (see hot topics).

 

"There is no doubt in my mind that this debate would not have taken place if we had not made such a fuss about it," said former deputy mayor Paul Macdonald.

 

"Now is the time for decisive action that ensures that all the ideas now running around are brought into a positive plan.

 

"I am a little surprised that the town council have not yet sponsored a meeting about this and set up a working group using the acumen of people like Stephen Pearson to positively take this forward."

 

"The move back to town control of the town hall is inexorable," said Steve Dancey of VFW.

 

"I have a number of further ideas to ease the process which I shall be passing on the the mayor in a few days."