Town Council votes to move home again

A DEPLETED Frodsham Town Council has voted – by the narrowest of margins – not to stay in its present home on the ground floor of Castle Park House.
Two members were absent, the council currently has two vacant seats and the remaining 12 members voted 6-6 at their monthly meeting last night when asked if they wished to continue with the present arrangements – occupying the ground floor of Castle Park House, providing front office reception and dealing with event management in the building.
Chairman Cllr Judith Critchley used her casting vote to oppose continuing with the arrangement.
This leaves the council with three other options:
1. Moving out of the ground floor into first floor offices in Castle Park House when they become available.
2. Moving out of the building altogether and taking permanent accommodation elsewhere in Frodsham.
3. Moving into temporary accommodation elsewhere in Frodsham while new, purpose-built offices were built on Town Council land.
The council was told continuing with the present arrangement would involve them taking a 10-year lease and it was unlikely there would be a reduction in rent. There would need to be a full reorganisation of the ground floor layout, investment in décor, furnishings, publicity, promotions, etc and employment of an events management company or their own events management team.
This would involve potentially costly initial outlay but this was likely to be recovered by future income.
Cllr Critchley said this option would only be viable if it had the full support and active engagement of the council – and she questioned whether there was enthusiasm for taking on an events management role.
A suggestion that events management could be done by volunteers was dismissed by Cllr Mallie Poulton.
“Events management for a house and grounds the size of this cannot be done by volunteers” he said
Cllr Tom Reynolds believed it was a “no brainer” – the council should continue with the present arrangement. There would be a net cost of £10,000 a year, plus rates, but there would be hidden benefits such as the free use of the main function room for meetings which, if they moved elsewhere they would have to pay for.
No decision was taken on the alternative options but it was agreed that Cllr Paul Martin would investigate the availability and cost of using an events management company.