The Cleckheaton Lib Dems have accused Kirklees Council of ‘setting the community up to fail’, through its newly-released plans for the local town hall.
A report published ahead of Tuesday’s (December 10) Cabinet meeting sets out five options for the future of Cleckheaton Town Hall. The hall has been mothballed in its entirety since the end of last year as part of a review of the council’s estate, which involved investigations into the overall condition of the building. It has since been revealed that around £7m is required for a full refurbishment of the hall.
The council says it does not have this cash or the £200k required annually to keep the town hall up and running. As a result, Cabinet is set to approve plans which would ultimately see a community group take on the operation of the town hall and assume responsibility for its management and repair works.
In a process which the council expects will take six months, groups would be invited to submit an initial expression of interest within one month of the opportunity being advertised, followed by an application and business case within a further three months. This would then come back to Cabinet for consideration. The council would continue as the owner of the building.
However, the council acknowledges that finding a community group with the resources to take on an asset the size of the town hall would be a “sizable and challenging undertaking”, with ward councillors Cllr John Lawson, Cllr Kath Pinnock and Cllr Andrew Pinnock accusing the local authority of ‘setting the community up to fail’.
They said: “ Looking at the options proposed to the Cabinet, the recommended option looks like a cynical attempt to throw the blame on the community. Given the comparatively short time scales the community is being set up to fail, in that it will be challenging to find all of the requisite skills (and money) to achieve the transfer of such a large building to a community group. In fact, this looks more like a business proposition rather than a transfer.
“There is a very large number of people in the area who would be willing to help in finding a solution as to what to do with the Town Hall; what they are not offering to do is to run the Town Hall. Moreover, the timescales allowed are totally inadequate.”
The report to Cabinet says the town hall is no longer one of the council’s “core assets”, which has been described by councillors as a “gross insult” to the Spen Valley and its surrounding areas, as well as ‘going against’ the council’s duties to all its residents. The ward members have also criticised an absence of community consultation on the plans.
The council has repeatedly come under fire from the community for ‘neglecting’ the historic building, with safety issues found above the stage in 2022 but yet to be repaired years later. Reports dating as far back as 2015 revealed that boilers were found ‘unfit’, though the council has since said the heating system is working “effectively”.
The three ward councillors add: “As far as funding is concerned, there are always choices. The Cabinet has chosen to allocate £354m over five years to Huddersfield, and £1m to the Spen Valley. There is a danger that over-centralisation of services will denude other areas of their vitality.”
Instead, the councillors are calling on the council to demonstrate its commitment to the future of Spen Valley and choose another option, ideally ‘Option 3’ which would see the building fully refurbished. If this can’t be done, the members are urging the local authority to select ‘Option 2’ – reopen the hall with limited refurbishment for health and safety works, with other works in future years – to allow the community time for reflection and assessment.
