The Head of Human Resources and Facilities submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended).  With the agreement of the Chair, Councillor Hollick as member for the Ward in which The Town Hall was located addressed the meeting.  Councillor Fooks also addressed the meeting with the Chair’s agreement.

In summary, Councillor Hollick referred to the unavailability of the Town Hall toilets when the Town Hall was closed on a Sunday because no events were taking place; that there needed to be transparency in terms of community interest group status (paragraph 5.8 of the report refers); that the average annual percentage increase figures in Appendix 1 to the report were, in his view, understated; and that the Town Hall staff restructure, as he saw it, had caused stress and anxiety to the staff involved.  Councillor Fooks referred to the viability of the Town Hall café and also to the Town Hall staff restructure.

In response the Leader said that the Town Hall could not be open simply to keep the toilet facility available when otherwise there were no activities in the Town Hall; that in terms of fees and charges increases, the Council’s proposed charges compared favourably with competitors as set out in paragraph 5.4; and that there would be member oversight of of the use of Town Hall accommodation by community interest group.  As to the Town Hall staff restructure, this was a separate issue.  It had been carried out under the Council’s change management policy agreed by Council (in other words Council had agreed a policy within which restructures were carried out by officers).

Resolved to:-

(1)  Note progress on the operational plan and the commissioning of an options appraisal for future utilisation of the Town Hall;

(2)  Agree the proposed opening times at set out in Section 4 of the report;

(3)  Agree the charging arrangements set out in Section 5 of the report and that those charges be incorporated into Appendix 7of the main Budget report considered at minute 133;

(4)  Agree the changes to the budgeted income as set out in the table in Section 6 of the report.