New foyer for town hall

Ellesmere Town Council has applied for planning permission for the new look frontage to replace the draughty canopy that has hung over the main doors to the town hall since it was built in the 1960s.

If given the go ahead the space will be enclosed with automatic doors installed.

Mayor, Councillor Ryan Hartley, said the lobby would have glass doors so that those waiting for a lift, particularly anyone feeling vulnerable would not only stay dry and warm but also feel safer.

He said the work would also cut down on heating bills.

Ellesmere Town Council is also looking at the problem of the building's flat roof.

It first sprang a leak in 2013.

Councillor Hartley said: “The town hall roof funding is one of the major problems we have. It needs to be sorted before the end of this decade.

“We keep having little problems with the flat roof, which we can hopefully get sorted properly in the next two to three years.

“It is quite expensive and we don’t want to land the town with an expensive loan or precept.

“We are looking at ways of funding. One of the figures which has been bandied around for the repairs is £75,000, but I think that is quite a conservative figure and think it will cost a lot more than that.

“Options we are looking at are to replace the flat roof with another flat roof, repair it, or we can put up a pitch roof which will last longer.

“Obviously we would like to put up a pitch roof but that would cost more.”

The town hall was constructed in the 1960s and councillors have been known to have to use buckets to catch the leaking water.

Several years ago the town hall needed an urgent building survey after a major leak was detected by water experts.

Severn Trent spotted the leak at the hall after a routine night patrol in the area.

There was originally about 900 litres an hour leaking in to the building and town councillors agreed to get some quotes from local contractors to have a full survey of the building and find out where the leak is coming from.

Discussions have been ongoing over the issue for a number of years – delaying the work.

The hall is the headquarters for the town council as also is the venue for events throughout the year.

This include a monthly cinema showing, antiques fair and food festival.

It is popular with hosts a range of community groups and regularly hosts public and private functions.