Agenda item

An update from David Redfern, Director Leisure, Culture & Communities.

 

A copy of the Area Board discussion and resolution from its meeting on 3 December 2020 is attached.

 

Members were asked by the Chairman to note the Resolution which had been agreed by the Board in 2020, which was:

 

The Area Board supports the re-opening of City Hall as an historic entertainment venue as soon as is safe and practical and requests that Wiltshire Council conducts any community engagement and/or consultation should the usage change, through the Salisbury Area Board.

 

The Chairman then invited David Redfern, Director Leisure, Culture & Communities to provide an update.

 

Some of the key points from the update included:

 

•        The Council remained committed to reopening City Hall as an entertainment venue with the view of long-term success.

•        The preference would be to find a third-party provider.

•        The building still required repairs before it could reopen.

•        Recent work included looking at the options available, to establish the viability of each option.

•        Following the soft market testing which had been carried out, the next steps would be to finalise a Prior Information Notice (PIN) and hold a City Hall Market Engagement event, to signal to the market that the Council was formally looking for a third-party provider which shared its vision for the project.

•        A City Hall Project Group had been formed and was meeting regularly to continue to drive the programme of work forward.

•        A dedicated webpage would be kept up to date with the latest information  www.wiltshire.gov.uk/salisbury-city-hall

 

Questions and comments included:

 

Whilst looking for a third party, would the council carry out works on the building or would that third party be expected to make the repairs once in place?

Answer: It was understood that repairs costing in the region of £138m were made to the Bristol Beacon, which the Council was now unable to secure an operator to manage it. The Council would want to have a serious conversation with anyone interested in operating City Hall, prior to investing in any repair programme.

 

If there was an acoustic issue with auditorium, preventing current use, could the Alamein suite be used for holding meetings?

Answer - There were other issues with the building that meant public access was not possible at this time.

 

Action: A report on what repairs were required would be compiled

 and circulated to the Area Board members following the meeting.

 

 

The Structural Report states that the building was not watertight, was any work being done to prevent the issue getting worse?

 

Action – A response would be obtained and provided to the Board Members following the meeting.

 

In the Cabinet report from November 2022 there was no mention of a management fee or further subsidy. It had appeared the plan was to hand over all of the costs to the third party. City Hall had been run as a deficit since 1962. Farham Borough council had spent a substantial amount of money on Farnham Hall and now had an extremely successful third-party operator. Even the best of companies needed a subsidy.

Answer: Once a third-party operator had been found, the Council would consider the best way forward to get the venue up and running again.

 

What was the current amount needed to be spent on City Hall, as there was a figure of £11m and now of £2m, and had the Council considered the War Memorial aspect of City Hall?

Answer: The War Memorial element would always remain a consideration. Discussions had taken place with the War Memorial Trust, who had asked for assurances.  The £11m figure had been associated with the Levelling Up Fund which involved larger project areas. The safety elements of the repair programme were costed at approximately £2m.

 

Who was on the City Hall Project Team? 

Answer: City Hall was an Officer led piece of work, which we update on at the Area Board. The team is made up of Officers from Arts and Culture, Economic Regeneration and others including Karlene and Karen.

 

Would there be any involvement with Salisbury City Council (SCC)?

Answer: The Project Group would be looking at options for re-opening the venue. Another exercise involved asking SCC whether it interested in an asset transfer. Negotiations were ongoing. 

 

SCC had no aspiration to take City Hall on without a financial package being in place, as it did not have the funds.

 

Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of the Council explained that a procurement process was currently underway and that elected Members, or third parties were not able to play a part in that process. Once a third party was found, Members and Stakeholders would be consulted. The Council was seeking to find a suitable third party to operate the venue successfully. Once found the Council would look to them, drawing on their expertise in the entertainment industry to advise what would be needed to be done to the building, to make it suitable as a modern entertainment venue.

 

If SCC was serious about taking on the venue, then the Council would need to be sure it was equally committed to opening as a live entertainment venue.

 

If the Council was proposing to providing financial support to a third party to manage the venue, then would it also offer funds to SCC if it wished to take on an asset transfer?

Answer: There were discussions to be had between SCC Officers and our Financial Officers, however there has been no offer of funding to third parties.

 

City Hall was viewed as a public service, and they cost money. Just because something costs money you can’t just close it down. Having City Hall closed was damaging the economy in Salisbury.

 

If the PIN process was unsuccessful what would the Council then do?

Answer: City Hall would be reopened as a live entertainment venue. There were other venues which were successful which had better designed bars for example, as a venues profit margin was dependent on selling drinks before and after shows. It was closed right now because it was not possible to open it, as it would not be covered by insurance.

 

Cllr Paul Sample then made a statement about City Hall and moved a motion for the Board to consider.

 

The Chairman suggested that as not all members had had the opportunity to consider the new motion ahead of the meeting, that it be deferred until the November meeting for consideration.

 

Cllr Sample requested that the motion be put forward for consideration at this meeting, therefore a slide was produced detailing the wording.

 

The Chairman asked for clarification on whether the motion was suggested to come into play should the current procurement process which was underway not be successful and whether the Area Board continued to support the PIN process and attempts to procure a third party as set out in the update.

 

Cllr Sample agreed that it was the intention to support the current attempts to procure a third party to take on the running of City Hall as an entertainment venue, however, should that process fail to secure a third party, then the motion would come into play.

 

This motion was seconded by Cllr Caroline Corbin.

 

It was;

 

Resolved:

 

That Salisbury Area Board continued to support the current PIN procurement process to secure a Third-Party Operator for Salisbury City Hall, with the view to reopening as an entertainment venue as soon as was safe to do so.

 

However, should that process be unsuccessful, the Board supported the following:

 

(1)  If negotiations with Salisbury City Council fail, Salisbury Area Board would invite interested parties in the Salisbury community to discuss the management and operation of the City Hall through:

 

a.     the formation of a Salisbury City Hall Trust (a registered charity) similar to the Trust which operates Portsmouth Guildhall, or

 

b.     the creation of a Community Interest Company (a charitable company limited by guarantee) similar to St John’s Place, Bemerton. 

 

(2)  Salisbury Area Board was committed to supporting that all future Wiltshire Council Salisbury-based meetings, including Salisbury Area Board, would be held at Salisbury City Hall.

 

(3)  Training in support of the Learning Disabilities community return to the City Hall thereby enabling local families much-needed support without the need to travel to Trowbridge.

 

(4)  Wiltshire Council should ensure that Salisbury City Hall be open during Remembrance Commemorations in November 2023.

 

(5)  Wiltshire Council should hand back Salisbury City Hall to the next operators in at least “as good as” condition as it inherited from Salisbury District Council in 2009.

 

 

 The motion would be forwarded to Cabinet for its consideration.