An extraordinary Town Council meeting to discuss the urgent operational issues of Buckfastleigh Town hall & Institute and options for future management of the charity will be held on August 22nd at 7:00 pm.
Buckfastleigh Town Hall is a great resource for the town – it has provided space for learning, exercise, entertainment and performance, as well as offices for the town council and our public library for over 100 years. We want to make sure it can carry on meeting the needs of the community for many, many years to come.
The Town Hall Institute is a charity in its own right and Buckfastleigh Council became its Trustee in the 1950’s. Since then the Councillors have held a dual role – running both the Council and the Charity. Over the last 3 years, The Town Council has been upgrading equipment and working practices to make sure that the building is safe and secure and meets modern legislation. Now we need to work out how to get the Town Hall in to shape for the next 100 years.
To continue into the future, the Town Hall needs further significant investment and improvement. We also need to make sure that it is properly managed and is meeting the current needs of the community. We think that the Town Councillors are not best placed to manage the day-to-day business of the Town Hall or lead the project to secure its future.
We are therefore considering options for creating a new board of trustees, independent from the Town Council, to develop an approach to revitalise, refurbish and re-imagine the Town Hall. The aim would be to put in a proper management plan, addressing the immediate needs for safety, access, hiring conditions etc, develop plans for generating additional users and income, find grant income to carry out urgent repairs and development and looking further ahead to longer term community needs and sustainability. The Town Council would continue to provide essential financial support to the Town Hall and would expect and support the trustees to work closely with the community to identify options and opportunity for development.
Come along to the extraordinary council meeting (at the Town Hall of course) on Wednesday 22nd August at 7pm and find out the reasons why we are proposing this and how it might work.
There’s some background information about how the town hall is managed here: https://buckfastleigh.gov.uk/town-hall/
Cllr. Andy Stokes
Chair Buckfastleigh Town Council