Kirklees makes its call on Cleckheaton Town Hall

Community management is the preferred option for the future of the venue, closed since July 2022.

In an item on Kirklees Council’s cabinet meeting agenda for 10 December, five options are put forward by officers for next steps regarding the hall.

Cleckheaton Town Hall, built in 1892, was closed following a piece of plaster falling from the ceiling, with subsequent surveys suggesting further plaster failure was a possibility.

The building costs £205,000 a year to run even in normal times, and in its mothballed state that figure is £131,000.

The first is to keep the building mothballed. The second is for reopening with limited repair works to satisfy health & safety requirements (costing an initial £1.5m), the third is for Kirklees to bankroll a full refurbishment, estimated at £7.1m.

Option four is for permanent closure and attempted disposal of the asset.

Option five is the suggested way forward; suggesting community management via a full repair and insurance lease, following agreement of a revenue and capital investment business case.

This way forward, say officers, is based on three factors: reducing the council’s long-term costs, restricting capital expenditure at what is, even by current UK standards a financially troubled local authority, and recognising the building as an important asset – giving the community a chance to take responsibility going forward.

Kirklees’ intention is that it would remain as the building’s owner, with community groups invited to come forward, prepared to take on operation of the site, and come up with a capital investment plan identifying appropriate sources of funding.

Although the building costs £205,000 a year to run, officers believe that a more commercial approach to letting and management, coupled with accessing grants and other funding, would mean a successful venue could be delivered.

If cabinet rubber-stamps the plan suggested, expressions of interest would be sought, followed by a request for business cases before officers return the matter to cabinet.