History of the Old Town Hall saga

(or the unnecessary, expensive and unfortunate

Council mess that has gone on for five years!)

2005 Horsham District Council looks to outsource the management and marketing of the Old Town Hall to the community. Commitment to community use and disabled access is confirmed.

October 2005 - The Cabinet Member for Leisure Services (responsible for the Old Town Hall policy area) commences the community bid process of the first Old Town Hall Advisory Group.

February 2006 - The winner of community bid is announced after due process and is reported to first Cabinet, and then Council. The community bidders will undertake all costs and pay a £1 'peppercorn rent' annually to the Council, thereby negating any losses borne by the Special Charge Payers. A full, favourable Feasibility Study is subsequently produced for the winning community bid, as was called for by the Advisory Group.

March 2006 - Cabinet blocks the recommendation and favorable Feasibility Study for the winning community bid. This is in favour of unfairly and retrospectively looking at other 'commercial uses'. Commercial uses of the building, being designated as a 'community hall', are also against the terms of the Council's Local Plan protecting community facilities - which is why the Leisure Services' process was conducted around three community proposals in the first place.

June 2006 - The Cabinet Member for Resources (now Finance & Assets) proposes a restaurant solution to Cabinet. However, the move is not entirely successful. The recommendation is amended to investigate both the winning community bid and restaurant option further.

August 2006 - The restaurant that is in the frame (Bill's Produce) is not prepared to co-exist with the Registrar, although they do not actually require the Registrar's space. Leisure Services are asked to set about moving the Registrar to facilitate the particular restaurant solution. None of the three locations offered by the Council are acceptable to West Sussex County Council acting on behalf of the Registrar however. One alternative location, Park House, is acceptable - but at that stage, members of the Council do not want to give up their creature comforts for the Registrar. As a result of the collapse in both restaurant and Registrar negotiations the Business Consultant for the winning community bid is therefore summoned to a meeting with Leisure Services and asked to slightly amend the plans in order to accommodate the Registrar - which he does. The Director of Leisure Services apologises for the delay and the winning community bid is finally set to be approved at Council the following month.

September 2006 - The Leader of the Council reneges on the deal and recommends in her report that the Council undertake its own management of community use. The bid process; the Advisory Group deliberations; community Business Plan and Feasibility Study representing hundreds of hours of detailed, professional work as requested by the Council; is thus irrationally wasted for the second time at this point.

April 2007 - The outgoing Chairman of the Council launches the Council's community consultation on the Old Town Hall. Consultant architects have been appointed and a new, second Old Town Hall Advisory Group is formed.

September 2007 - The planned public exhibition for the Council's own community use proposals is cancelled without explanation.

October 2007 - The Council's second Advisory Group has failed to 'cut-the-mustard' and the architects have "disappeared" without explanation. The architects allegedly leave behind a report that does not obviously look like their work, or befit their reputation. As a result of the confusion, the annual losses on the Old Town Hall are higher than ever; and the usage is lower than ever.

February 2008 - The restaurant proposal is brought back onto the table in desperation. The Council is now prepared to concede Park House to the Registrar in similar desperation. The Council resolves to seek "expressions of interest" for a restaurant and report back to Cabinet.

May 2008 - The Council Leader is replaced. This apparently follows being caught out on a denial that any restaurant negotiations were happening in 2006 in response to a question at Council. Bill's Produce inadvertently seems to have let the 'cat out of the bag' in the local press.

November 2008 - The Council puts in its own restaurant plans and the objections from members of the public and organisations are many. The Council commissions the plans (paid for by the taxpayer) without any proper authority it seems, as no report back to Cabinet has been made as yet. The Council doesn't seem to have sought expressions of interest very vigorously either.

January 2009 - The ruling party block vote the Council plans through Development Control North committee. The plans are thought to be very extreme in order to smooth the way for a real application by a real applicant. Council held e-mails reveal that news of the planning discussion is conveyed to Bill's Produce the very next day.

February 2009 - The Cabinet takes the decision to pursue a restaurant solution - prematurely naming Bill's produce as "preferred supplier". The Cabinet takes the decision for a restaurant despite having undeclared concerns from English Heritage in their 'back pocket'.

May 2009 - An offer is made to Bill's Produce at £52,500 per annum. Surprisingly, this is much less than the market value at £75,000. The reason for this difference is unexplained in the Council report.

Since then - The Council announces that Bill is about to sign the lease and will be open by October 2009, Christmas 2009, and summer 2010 (highly unlikely). The losses that have been unfairly piled on the Special Charge Payers for those wasted years, for a building that they are unfairly prevented from using (along with the rest of the public) by an out-of-town Cabinet, continue to pile up.

The fight goes on until justice is finally done - and restaurant use of this wonderful, historic community building is no more. Any society that allows itself to be brow beaten into not protesting - and not campaigning for what is right and honourable - is on slippery slope.

"Never underestimate the power of persistence" - Nelson Mandela.

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