Trowbridge Town Hall put up for sale
11:00am Saturday 16th July 2011
- Comments(1)
Trowbridge Town Hall is to be sold in the biggest shake-up in the building’s 122-year history.
Town councillors are furious that Wiltshire Council, which owns the Grade II listed hall, have let it fall into such a bad state of repair that any prospective buyer faces a repair bill of up to
£3.5m.
Neil Ward, head of Wiltshire Council’s property services, explained the process of selling the building to councillors and community leaders at a meeting of the Trowbridge Area Board.
He said: “We need to make the best of a bad job. The difficulty of providing a long-term use for the building will always hinder the investment into it.”
Community groups will be offered the chance to buy the town hall first, and former mayor Glyn Bridges is considering action to bid for the building.
Any group would have until October to consider a bid, after which any viable options will have a further three months to create a business plan. If there are no successful bids the council will
sell the hall on the open market.
Mr Ward added: “What I want to do is start the process in advance of the building becoming vacant so that if there is a community group out there that could take on the building we can give it a
long-term sustainable future.
“We need to be confident that a group that takes it on is able to address the concerns about the building. The next use of the town hall must be a sustainable one.
“Any applications need to be realistic and they need to be able to find the capital investment and the running costs. If no sustainable applications come forward then we will look into an open
market disposal. If it is sold privately principles set out by English Heritage will always be considered in the sale.”
For some time the town hall has been surrounded by safety fencing, due to its deteriorating condition.”
Wiltshire councillor Graham Payne said: “The council has had ownership of the town hall for over 30 years. Nothing was done to the property to protect it from the weather and any deterioration can
be directly blamed on West Wiltshire District Council and subsequently Wiltshire Council.”
Fellow councillor John Knight said: “I love the town hall building and it is a disgrace what has happened.
“When I look around at other town halls in Wiltshire they are being made full use of. We should be doing the same here in the county town.”
The building, which was completed in 1889, underwent alterations in the 1970s to create the West Wiltshire Magistrates Court.
In 2002 it became the home of the Coroner’s Service who use it for military inquests. All inquests will move to Salisbury by early 2012, making the building redundant.
A feasibility study was carried out in 2005 when Trowbridge Town Council considered buying it to convert it into town council offices, a function room in the Great Hall, register offices, a tourist
information centre and restaurant but the plan was dropped. A cost of £2.6m was earmarked, but in today’s figures that would amount to £3.5m.
Those looking to retain the town hall for community use will be watching the sale of Warminster Town Hall, where the town’s preservation trust have faced a battle to raise the funds to save it.
An auction on July 27 at Bristol Zoo will see the Grade-II listed building go under the hammer. It has a guide price of £200,000 attached to it.
The group have had an uphill struggle to raise the money through local donations and is now having to compete with private buyers.
It will be their second attempt to buy it, after a bid 12 years ago failed.
Community groups in Trowbridge will have the luxury of a three month grace period to consider placing a bid before it is put out to the open market.
Comments(1)
<!–moocherx, ex-Trow says… //–>
moocherx, ex-Trow says…
2:13pm Sat 16 Jul 11
The town hall’s demise mirrors that of Trowbridge itself. It needs a lottery grant, as it is/was a landmark. Otherwise, pull it down. There’s no point even trying to turn Trowbridge into a silk purse any more.
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