Ryde Town Council has decided to buy the run-down former Town Hall and Theatre — despite funding concerns and repair costs of more than £2.4million.
The decision made at Ryde Town Council’s (RTC) meeting yesterday (Wednesday) led to the resignation of Les Kirkby, who said the council had gone against all the advice given to it by officers and solicitors and that it will only mean the people of Ryde will pay more for their precept.
The Town Council had been in discussion with the owners of the building for the past 3 years but was issued with an ultimatum to decide what they wanted to do by July.
Putting forward the motion to the council, Cllr Phil Jordan said the previous Town Council had already agreed to take the building on but with new faces on the council wanted them to have their say. He said it was a matter of either saving the building, which has been empty since the Isle of Wight Council sold it in 2013, or not.
Cllr Jordan said:
“As we have seen in this town, private ownership does not work: these buildings fall into disrepair.
“The only future for a building of this nature is to bring it back into community use, with either public or community ownership … If we do not buy the building, its future is not very good.”
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A feasibility study produced by Hampshire County Council found all of the options for the town hall and theatre to be ‘commercially unviable’.
To remodel the town hall into any of the options proposed would range from £3,050,000 to £3,540,000, on top of the repair costs, and exceed the estimated gross development values, leaving an overall funding gap of £3.5 million.
The study did say it could be mitigated through other funding sources like grants but RTC officers said a risk had been identified that there would be an 80% chance grant funding could not be secured.
Cllr Jordan said when they had previously tried to get grant funding from the Heritage Lottery the main reason they were unsuccessful was because they did not own the building. He did say it was a risk grant funding could not be secured but “everything in life is a risk and we have to balance those risks with the possible outcomes” and face the possibility that it could become another Vectis Hall if left alone.
Cllr Ian Stephens, 1 of 3 councillors to vote against buying the hall, said “his heart says yes but his head says hang on a minute, let’s think about this”. He said it was the money of Ryde residents, some who have gone through hardships through COVID, being spent which may see an increase in the precept but there were other possible ways forward, such as a compulsory purchase order.
The motion to acquire the building and negotiate terms was approved by 9 votes to 3 and 3 abstentions.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Kirkby said restoring the building could have been achieved through other developers working with RTC, and not pay more than the asking price the council may now be faced with.
Cllr Jordan said the final asking price, which currently stands at £600,000, would be subject to negotiation and that he could not comment on other councillors’ actions.
Mayor of Ryde, Cllr Michael Lilley, also voted against the decision. He said after listening to all the debate, he felt it was inappropriate as mayor to go against officer’s recommendation although he did support the purchase but more time and consultation was needed. He said:
“It is difficult but democracy has happened and you cannot say that members did not have all the facts, I respect their decision.”
The councillors have no right to demand extra money from taxpayers claiming a shortfall, when they can find a few million to buy back something they stupidly sold in the first place.
simply demand that the current owner do something with it, or it take steps to impose sanctions on the current owners for allowing the building to fall into a state of disrepair.
After a record breaking council tax rise this year it looks like they will be doing the same next year. Maximum increase plus extras disguised as money for police or fire brigade or some poor excuse called a precept or three.
Gambling with all our money, hoping to win funding is not smart but hey, its not their money to risk.
They should be approaching investors to raise the capital to gamble with, then those investors can shoulder the risk.
Mind you, what sane investor would do that….. wait, Ryde town council would.
It should never have stopped being used as the actual Town Hall. In the old days apparently, if anyone had problems they wanted sorting out they would say they were going to the town hall to get it sorted. If only it could be like that now!
That will never happen again as the vast amount of over paid council workers a far too busy to deal with the public that pay vast amounts of taxes that pay for there life styles. And the crazy money wasting projects the think up
RTC already load our council tax with the highest precept charge on the IOW.
We need lower bills for services, not more property, who experts suggest will run in deficit.
How many art spaces does Ryde need? Particularly when its funded by milking hard pressed council taxpayers.
Seems some of our RTC councillors ignore good advice over debt concerns. RTC precept is already highest on IOW. They show total disregard for struggling families.
Sounds like a bottomless pit to me. Plus they don’t have a clear vision of what it could be, so grant funding is unlikely.
Any btw Town Council, shouldn’t take risks with other people’s money.
Went to a memorable performance by Kevin Montgomery and the road trippers at Ryde Theatre.
One of the things i remember was having to pass through about six doors to get to the toilets and wondering how all the boozy revellers would get out if there was a fire.
This building will cost far too much to get into some sort of order that would satisfy current health and safety standards.
Not a good use of our coucil tax.
Madness to continue with the Town Hall. It has been a blot on the landscape for decades. It is going to cost far too much to put right and it will still be an ugly building! Shame Mr Kirkby felt he had to resign as he obviously had some sense!
You may think it’s ugly, others feel differently. What I call ugly is most of the modern houses being built everywhere and the way many people look and dress nowadays.