Multi-million pounds to breathe new life into a historic civic building would still keep it at the heart of the community, the leader of Bolton Council has said as protestors opposed to the plans prepared to stage a demonstration.
Westhoughton Town Hall has been earmarked for a £2 million transformation to reopen it.
Protestors say they are not happy with the plans, claiming they have been kept in the dark, a claim strenuously denied by Cllr Martyn Cox, leader of Bolton Council.
Under the plans, the town hall would house restaurants and coffee shops, building on the town’s growing reputation as a food and drink destination.
But those opposing the plans say the money could be spent on facilities in the town.
Some of the public comments on the petition include ‘we don’t want any more eateries’, ‘too many bars and cafes’, ‘need to keep local services’ and ‘we need a full consultation’.
Grant Ratcliff, a member of the Westhoughton Focus Group, said: “We are a local group campaigning to stop the council from making changes to Westhoughton Town Hall that we believe the community don’t want.
“The community are asking for a full and fair consultation on the development “Our town hall was closed during Covid, and Bolton Council had agreed to spend £2.5 million to do some upgrades on the building structures from funding given to them and it was believed services would restore our town.
“A further £16 million was allocated to Bolton Council to spend on improving town centres and £4 million was earmarked for Westhoughton.
“A consultation was proposed and set up in 2019.
“The public part of which ran for only four weeks in February 2020 far short of government guidelines and to date doesn’t explain why they only chose this short time frame.
“From 27,000 residents the consultation had 159 responses and the steering group was not representative of the disadvantaged groups in our community.
“Bolton council kept the steering group in the dark and ripped up the previous masterplan making adaptions and changes without letting our community know the decision on a final proposal which included installing two restaurants and a café into the building to generate income for the council but no services for the towns community would return.
“They have also failed to answer the question whether the extra revenue raised would go back into Westhoughton or into Bolton Council’s purse.
“The library was reduced in size with proposals to change its purpose, layout and design without public consultation and the future of our Carnegie Hall and community use of the building is under threat.
.“A public meeting was called, and some ward members did attend.
“At this point and due to the strength of feeling of the residents, we were told to ask to join the steering group in an attempt to find a compromise.
“For weeks our requests were ignored but finally an email response told us we were being denied a place.
“We have lots of local support with over 1200 residents signing a petition to stop and give the residents a voice in a full consultation.
“Unless the council can agree to work with us, we take our campaign up a level with a public protest on September 10 outside our town hall, the home of democracy.”
Cllr Martyn Cox said: “I just don’t understand.
“People could ask any questions that they wanted, the idea that they were kept in the dark is just ridiculous.
“There is not a shred of truth in that.
“The proposals for Westhoughton Town Hall went through a full consultation process lead by a local steering group, shared by a Lib Dem councillor who was not a member of administration.
“The only money spent so far is six hundred thousand pounds which was spent on the roof and windows to ensure the building is watertight.
“We have been campaigning for this investment for three elections and all of which we have won.
“Another thing is most of the space would be open to the community groups and they think it is just being used as a coffee shop, it’s not.
“The steering group proposed a mixed use of community, commercial and civic use.
“We are going to be investing millions of pounds into a community asset that has been delayed since 2017, we are in affect bringing it back to life.
“This action group have asked the council services to return to the hall and the council departments have made it clear that they don’t want to use Westhoughton Town Hall.
“Those discussions the action group want have already been held and none of them want to move into the town hall.
“They are asking us to answer a question that has already been answered further delaying the project.
“The steering group wasn’t chaired by the leader of the council it was chaired by a local councillor - a Lib Dem councillor brought forward the proposals.
“This has now gone through the steering group and an executive member and now works are being considered and programmed.
“It doesn’t make sense to go back in time.
“I think this particular group are doing a real disservice to the community to get this project stopped.”
Bolton Council Leader Martyn Cox said: “I just don’t understand.
“People could ask any questions that they wanted, the idea that they were kept in the dark is just ridiculous.
“There is not a shred of truth in that.
“The proposals for Westhoughton Town Hall went through a full consultation process lead by a local steering group, shared by a Lib Dem councillor who was not a member of administration.
“The only money spent so far is six hundred thousand pounds which was spent on the roof and windows to ensure the building is watertight.
“We have been campaigning for this investment for three elections and all of which we have won.
“Another thing is most of the space would be open to the community groups and they think its just being used as a coffee shop, it’s not.
“The steering group proposed a mixed use of community, commercial and civic use.
“We are going to be investing millions of pounds into a community asset that has been delayed since 2017, we are in affect bringing it back to life.
“This action group have asked the council services to return to the hall and the council departments have made it clear that they don’t want to use Westhoughton Town Hall.
“Those discussions the action group want have already been held and none of them want to move into the town hall.
“They are asking us to answer a question that has already been answered further delaying the project.
“The steering group wasn’t chaired by the leader of the council it was chaired by a local councillor; a Lib Dem councillor brought forward the proposals.
“This has now gone through the steering group and an executive member and now works are being considered and programmed.
“It doesn’t make sense to go back in time.
“I think this particular group are doing a real disservice to the community to get this project stopped.”
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