Keynote building on show to public
THE doors will be open at one of Hebden Bridge's finest buildings this Saturday, as members of a project team, hoping to breathe new life into the town's Council Offices, are on hand to discuss the proposals.
The ambitious plans, which would see the building next to St George’s Bridge extensively developed for community use, would among other things create a new public hall and function room in the former housing department offices. The project also includes plans for meeting rooms, offices for community organisations and a new staircase and lift to make the whole building fully accessible to all.
The Council Offices are a grade II listed building which passed into Calderdale’s ownership from the old Hebden Royd Urban District Council in 1974. In recent years, several offices have been closed and the building is currently under-utilised.
The current community-led project, under the auspices of Hebden Royd Partnership, aims to safeguard the long-term future of the building as a key resource for the town.
“The government is at the moment strongly encouraging local authorities to transfer community buildings into direct community management and ownership, so this an important opportunity for us in Hebden Bridge to ensure that the Council Offices site is secure for the future and becomes once again the hub of life locally,” said Mr Andrew Bibby, one of the voluntary project team members.
In recent weeks he and his colleagues have learned that Calderdale will agree in principle to the building passing into the hands of a Hebden Bridge community trust, though as Mr Bibby points out the detailed negotiations with Calderdale about such a transfer are still to be held. The project team have also seized the chance to put in a grant application for capital funding for work on the building.
“The government has, at short notice, made 30million available via the Big Lottery for projects like ours, and we have managed to work quickly to ensure our own application is considered,” added Mr Bibby. The group will hear in the New Year whether a bid, for about 860,000 for major capital work, has been short-listed.
The Council Offices have long been seen as a key resource in the town’s regeneration, and is one of the priorities identified by Hebden Royd Partnership, the umbrella organisation linking community groups in the town.
The project team also includes councillors from Hebden Royd Town Council and the parish councils, who have been developing a strategy for the future of the building over the past eighteen months.
Members of the team will be on hand in the Council Offices this Saturday morning between 11am and 1.30pm to discuss the proposals, and all are welcome to drop in during this period. “We will also be happy to show anyone who hasn’t seen it before the Council Chamber on the first floor, which is particularly architecturally impressive,” said Mr Bibby .
The future development of the Council Offices hinges in part on the progress on the lottery grant, as well as on the discussions with Calderdale. “Don’t expect immediate changes,” Mr Bibby warns. “Even if, as we hope, we’re successful in our application it’s unlikely that work will get under way until 2009. We don’t expect the new facilities to be fully available until 2010.”
Mr Bibby added that the building has already been part of local life for 110 years and the project aims to ensure its sustainability and usefulness for the century to come.
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Thursday 17 May 2012
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