Town hall closure a 'huge blow', council told

The closure of a town hall has been a “huge blow” to thousands of people, a council meeting heard.

Cleckheaton Town Hall was mothballed last September, as Kirklees Council closed the Grade II listed building as part of a review of its estate.

The council was seeking to raise £455,000 towards the total £47m that needed to be found to balance its books at the time.

Chris Moore, chairman of the Cleckheaton and Spenborough Town Hall Group, called on the council to reopen the hall as an events space.

Concerns the venue had been "neglected" had been raised repeatedly by the community, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Council documents revealed the town hall was in need of more than £5m worth of maintenance works, with annual running costs of £175,000.

Mr Moore, who is also deputy chairman of the Cleckheaton and Spenborough University of the Third Age (U3A), raised the issue at a full council meeting.

He noted the hall had been used by amateur dramatic societies, dance schools, the British Legion and the U3A.

He said it was of cultural significance, not least due to its role in hosting a nationally acclaimed folk festival.

Mr Moore suggested it could be used as an events space, art gallery, banking hub or local history museum to generate income.

He said: "There is a swell of feeling of concern in the community and businesses about the future of the town hall."

Graham Turner, cabinet member for finance and regeneration, said there were "several issues with the building’s structure" and a report on the state of the building had been compiled.

He said ward councillors would be briefed on the report at a meeting on 1 October.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.