For those of you who pass by the Town Hall regularly, you may have noticed that the refurbishment works commenced on 24th January.
At the moment our building is not accessible to disabled people and in this day and age, we don’t think that this is acceptable.
The main aim of the refurbishment is to make the building accessible under the Equality Act so that all members of our community can access services and events at the Town Hall.
To achieve this, we are:
· Creating a ramped access at the front of the building which is compliant with legislation for wheelchair use and also provides easy access for pushchairs and people with mobility issues who might not be able to use the steps.
· Installing a lift which gives access to the Council Chamber on the first floor meaning that residents with mobility issues can attend meetings of the Council.
· Installing disabled toilets on the ground and first floor to ensure that visitors to the building have all the facilities they may require. These toilet areas will also feature baby changing facilities.
Our second aim was to create useable community spaces and meeting rooms that are available for the community to use, whether that is a meeting space for organisations, community events or a space for private functions.
To achieve this, we are:
· Creating two large multi-purpose community rooms on the ground floor
· Creating a servery area which is accessible from each community room to facilitate the service of drinks during events.
· Creating a smaller meeting room on the ground floor for 6-8 people
In order to create this usable community space on the ground floor, our administration offices are being relocated to the first floor, in a section of the building where it is not possible to create access for disabled people and would otherwise be an unusable space.
Our third aim was to make the building more efficient with energy usage and hopefully reduce our carbon footprint and future running costs.
To achieve this, we are:
· Installing replacement energy efficient windows on the first floor.
· Installing insulation in the ceiling void to prevent heat loss.
· Disconnecting from the old, unreliable gas boiler which we had no control over.
· Installing new energy efficient heating and cooling systems so that we only pay for the power that we consume, as opposed to the percentage of total bill method which is currently used for our utilities.
There will be a lot of changes to the building and redecoration will be necessary to ensure the building is presentable when we re-open. The ground floor was last decorated 15 years ago, and the first floor hasn’t been decorated in more than 20 years. Its definitely time for a fresh coat of emulsion in many areas of the building.
This project is being funded through savings achieved as a result of careful budget management and our specifically earmarked reserves. We will not be increasing the precept to fund the refurbishment works and have already budgeted for the ongoing maintenance costs within our existing budget.
We have also not taken on any loans to fund the works.
Once completed, the facilities will be available to book by the various community groups and residents with no room hire charges, subject to availability and our bookings policy.
A word about toilets…
We are aware of the need for toilets in the Town Centre and have been discussing possible solutions for several years.
Whilst we haven’t found a solution to the lack of traditional ‘public toilets’ there are a number of places where toilets are available in the town:
· Lidl, Altofts Road – Open during store opening times
· Library, Market Street – Open during library opening hours
· Swimming Pool, Market Street – Open during pool opening hours
You may also wish to support one of the many cafés in the town centre who offer toilets for customers. This would also help to boost trade and improve footfall in the High Street.
Once the Town Hall refurbishment is completed, whilst there won’t be a public toilet in the traditional sense, if anyone asks to use our toilet while the offices are open, they will be able to do so. All we ask is that the toilet is left in a reasonable condition and that the facility is not misused.
We very much look forward to the project being completed and welcoming you back to the building whether that is at an event or at a meeting of the Town Council.
