Trafford council appears to have back-tracked on its plan to ‘dispose’ of Altrincham Town Hall following a tide of local protest. A move to sell a 25-year-lease on the historic building to a childcare company has been ditched with community groups now invited to tender alternative bids.
It is encouraging news for the Altrincham and Bowdon Civic Society and the Inch Arts who both wanted to keep the town hall open for community use. Both groups submitted proposals which would have kept the building open, but which were initially rejected.
Influential Altrincham and Sale MP Sir Graham Brady as well as Green Party and Liberal Democrat councillors also joined the campaign backed by a 2,000-name petition to prevent the building from effectively being closed to the general public. Trafford’s executive has now met and resolved to launch ‘a formal open tender process to explore the disposal of Altrincham Town Hall via a lease’.
This means that the civic society and Inch Art can now submit new proposals to take on the lease. According to Coun Michael Welton, who is leading on the issue for the Greens, the decision is an ‘admission that there have been inconsistencies in the way the process has been handled so far’.
“But hopefully this will ensure greater transparency and fairness going forward,” he said. “We are pleased that local community groups will be able to tender for the lease of Altrincham Town Hall. The process needs to be fair and should not be rushed.
“We understand that the council needs to save money, but it should also respect the history of the building and its value to our local community. A successful, well-used town hall would be good for the whole town centre, and that should be a significant factor in the council’s final decision about who should run it.”
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