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Town councillors' double standards over Town Hall plea
(January 26, 2011)The town Preservation Trust may get a £50,000 grant from the town council to buy the empty (apart from its feathered friends) building in the future.
The Town Hall which has Lord Bath's family crest above the front doors has become one of the burning issues in the town alongside the future of the Assembly Hall.
The trust wants to buy the Grade II listed building on the corner of Weymouth Street and the Market Place when it comes up for auction.
They asked the local council for the promise of a £50,000 grant at the last full council meeting at Dewey House should the purchase go-ahead.
The council unanimously showed its support to the trust’s attempts to buy the building but there is a demand being made of the public that the council does not make of itself.
"The town council are insisting that there be a business plan in place for the future use of the Town Hall," says Paul Macdonald who as co-author of visionforwarminster with Steve Dancey made this issue the keystone.
"Yet they make no such demands of themselves as they apply for a six figure loan with no business plan for themselves the Assembly Hall which has repeatedly made many of us unhappy with that idea.
"The preservation trust has an exemplary record at doing this sort of work so I know that the town council will now have back this project with cash.
"We all have to be really pleased that at last two years after we launched the campaign the Town Council are showing real interest in supporting the positive vision for the Town Hall."