Forum over Town Hall's future is today (From Brentwood Weekly News)

Forum over Town Hall's future is today

12:19pm Thursday 12th July 2012 in News

THE future of Brentwood’s town hall might become clearer after the public is given the chance to say how the building should be used.

Brentwood Council’s town hall delivery group will offer members of the public an open forum to find out more about what options are available for the future of the landmark building, in Ingrave Road.

The town hall is no longer fully occupied and only about half of the space in the building is used.

Russell Quirk, chairman of the town hall delivery group, said: “We’ve made excellent progress with members, officers and consultants working together.

“It has been a robust and transparent process which has helped us to develop what we believe is a sound business case, with five options for members to consider.

“The advance Q&A session for the public is important for us, as we progress our work together and the business case in an open and transparent way.

“We know the future of the town hall building is something that residents are very passionate about, and the outcome we’re all agreed on is that we need to make better economic use of the space. Please do join us to find out more.”

The public forum will be held on Thursday, July 12, from 5.30pm at the town hall and a range of options will be presented to a full council meeting on July 18 for a decision.

The future of the town hall building sparked debate in the town last year when councillors rejected a proposal to sell or lease the building for redevelopment.

The cross party delivery group was set up last August after council members agreed a recommendation which will retain the town hall building with 20,000 sq ft of space refurbished for council use, 6,000 sq ft available for community use and the rest of the building under ownership of the council but available to commercial organisations and for the purposes of generating income.