Alderley Edge Parish Council has agreed to spend up to another £300,000 on the refurbishment of the Festival Hall, which will take the total expenditure up to £840,000.
This will enable them to carry out phase 2 of the refurbishment plans which include building a single storey extension for a meeting room (for which planning permission has just been granted), a meeting room above the hall, offices at the back of the hall for the Parish Council, toilets and a lift.
Speaking about the Festival Hall at the Parish Council meeting on Monday, 14th December, Geoff Hall said "We face a shortfall on funding to complete additional works. Budgeted by our predecessors at £540,000 the actual costs, without any changes to specification, will actually be £840,000 so we have £300,000 to find.
"As we cannot borrow more we are now actively seeking donors, sponsors and individuals who are willing to help us bring this project to fruition."
He added "We have already started to make progress and have actually got pledges totalling £160,000 leaving us just £140,000 to find. So we will be looking to step up that fundraising effort and fill the gap."
Councillor Craig Browne said "I just wanted to say how important I think it is, given the extent of the shortfall, that we have a robust business plan going forward to show how we will be able to make it a viable community asset."
Cllr Geoff Hall clarified that work has started on the business plan and any expenditure will only be made once they have the required funding in place.
Additionally the Parish Council agreed an increase in expenditure on the Medical Centre to £2.5 million to enable the completion of the Pharmacy/ and 2nd floor so they are in a lettable condition and to put the necessary security arrangements in place to meet Secure by Design specifications.
The Parish Council agreed in September to set up an additional £500,000 loan facility, over and above the £2million already raised. The reasons for which were not discussed at the Parish Council meeting on Monday, 14th December, but have been covered by Cllr Geoff Hall in an earlier article.
Councillor Hall confirmed at the meeting that the Medical Centre project is still on schedule and their target is to have it as near to complete as possible by the end of February 2016. The doctors have been at looked at two the rooms as they are trying to minimise the number of last minute changes and nail down as many things as possible.
The building is now watertight and a lot of work is currently going on internally, such as putting up partitions.
Comments
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Not at all convinced by politicians of any colour designing and running buildings like this ; don't know the ins and outs of the extra money to be raised, but not feeling very confident
Just think on,when you're in there getting Doctored you won't give a damn what it looks like!
Is the comparison like for like?
Does the present large figure include the new side entrance? Because the previous P.C. intended that to be part of the Medical Centre costing. After all, if there had not been a new Medical Centre, there wouldn't be need for a new side entrance.
Can anyone out there please answer?