Costly Town Hall roof fears allayed
At last night’s full council meeting, details emerged from the recent closed-door discussions to address the short and long-term issue of the iconic building costing the town an arm-and-a-leg to run and maintain.
Last summer, there were immediate concerns raised that masonry was falling from the clock tower, prompting an emergency fund being released from the Town Council coffers for potential repairs.
But it appears that the Town Council has now engaged the services of a professional surveyor to carry out a survey of the building every five years at a cost of £10,000, and their initial work has already paid dividends.
Cllr Alison Davies confirmed: “What we thought was going to be a hugely costly job now appears to be a couple of days’ work with a cherry picker.”
That suggestion was made at a meeting several months back by Cllr Billy Spencer, but it appears time has been lost by trying to find a specialist scaffolding contractor for listed buildings, who will not now be needed.
“We need to get that message out there to the public that it is now apparent that the issue is not as bad as we feared,” said Cllr Spencer.
Cllr Nick Howells reminded councillors of the urgency to carry out the work as “we have a legal obligation to make that roof safe” as not doing so could leave them negligent if the unthinkable happened.
Cllr Davies added that once the surveyor’s repor is finalised, work will be broken down into several phases which will include immediate work, short-term work over five years and then a 10-year plan of work that will turn the building into one that is suitable for modern use.
She said that negotiations had already started with the National Lottery for potential funding.
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