Key Dates

Full Council appointed a cross party working group focussing on the development and renovation of the town hall and the requirements of the Council.

The cross party working group has representation from all of the political parties on the Council, alongside a representative from the Town Forum and Council officers.

The Working Group focussed on producing a proposal for Full Council to consider that allows the Borough to make the best use of the Town Hall as a facility. The building in its present form requires significant investment to repair or refurbish.

Full Council agreed to pursue repurposing and redeveloping much of the Town Hall into high-spec, modern, flexible, rentable office accommodation for start-ups, SMEs and more established businesses.

The cross party working group was in the process of preparing a draft brief to take to the market, for a decision at a Cabinet meeting in June 2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic led to the first national lockdown, the Council invoked its emergency plan to deal with new priorities and the Civic Complex Working Group was put on hold.

The cross party working group reconvened and considered the impact of the Council’s post-pandemic financial situation and assessments of building and maintenance requirements.

The Working Group concluded that releasing space for co-working with the Council remaining in situ but on a reduced floorspace would be the best option in the medium term.

Cabinet agreed to start the search for a partner to deliver co-working space and reduce the overall office space occupied by the Council.

Full Council approved the establishment of a capital budget of up to £5m to enable the conversion of the Town Hall for co-working.