BOURNE COMMENT

A personal view of issues
and events

by REX NEEDLE

THE TOWN HALL SHOULD RESUME ITS CIVIC ROLE

A public consultation is underway to determine the future of the Town Hall, a costly exercise involving an historic building which has been the centrepiece of our local affairs for almost two centuries and which many believe should never have been closed in the first place.

The project in conjunction with South Kesteven District Council to transfer all council services at county, district and town level to a cramped Community Access Point at the Corn Exchange went ahead despite vociferous public opposition and we are now left with a downsized public library and office space too restricted even for the staff while the original building which has been in use for almost two centuries stands empty and a rusting container litters the market place as standby accommodation for the market stalls.

This sorry episode began five years ago as an attempt to save money. The Town Hall needed improvement, specifically the addition of a lift for disabled access to the upper floors, but instead the county and district councils embarked on a complicated procedure to move all services to the Corn Exchange, thus making this ancient building surplus to requirements and available to be disposed of on the commercial market with the likelihood that it could end up as a Wetherspoon’s or even a carpet warehouse.

There were continual warnings from this column that the county council had no legal right to sell because it had been built in 1821 with money raised through public subscription and we urged a search of the archives to justify this claim. But our entreaties fell on deaf ears and work began on the new CAP despite widespread criticism of the consequences and it finally opened for business in March 2013. Since then, much of what was forecast has come to pass such as the lack of space within and the pressure on car parking spaces without, but notably proof that ownership of the Town Hall is vested in the people through a deed of trust which was eventually found in the archives and so prevented the county council from selling it.

But by then the Town Hall was empty and already beginning to show signs of disuse and the county council’s scheme to sell it off to raise capital was quietly shelved. Instead, the public are being asked what should be done with it through the current consultation which lists possible uses and the way it should be run with a series of information meetings around the district which will continue until November 11th.

The Town Hall is now therefore a subject for public debate as it should have been in the first place yet the county council had originally presented its closure scheme as a fait accompli. There is some discussion on the subject in the social media where returning the building to its original use is a popular suggestion and this would seem to be the most ethical and sensible way forward.

There will be officially inspired howls of protest about the cost and the sum of £500,000 for restoration is already being bandied around, perhaps as a warning that such a move would mean a rise in council tax, but it should be remembered that as the current owner of the Grade II listed building, the county council has a duty of care whether it is in use or not.

Furthermore, a decision on its future should not be based on financial expediency but on public choice and in any case, the authority can always find money when it is needed such as the £400,000 currently being spent on printing and circulating the ridiculous County News which by all accounts is read by very few, or to give councillors a £2,000 a year increase in allowances, a total of £250,000 a year previously earmarked for public services, which it did as recently as 2014 despite being in a period of financial restraint and in the face of government opposition.

By all means we can keep the CAP at the Corn Exchange for county and district council services, the library and the register office, but the town council should return to its traditional home and the building once again become the centre of our civic affairs as it has been since 1821.

Unfortunately, this does not seem to be among the options available and so we are still very much in the hands of the county council and the results of the public consultation exercise which gives no clear choice in that direction because all options appear to give the authority the opportunity to wash its hands of the building without assuming any financial responsibility.

The people should not be easily placated by this exercise because it appears that the authority still has a mind to dispose of it, as indicated by Option 6 of the consultation procedure which clearly states “Sell the building”.

Town councillors have expressed a desire to return and there is a great deal of support for this around the town and so the moral is now clear. Lincolnshire County Council should do the decent thing by accepting their mistake and restoring this historic building to the public use it was originally intended.

Note: This article was published by the Bourne web site on 23rd October 2015