The shadow that has hung over the Town Hall for several years was lifted when North Wiltshire District Council agreed to sell it to Malmesbury Town Council for £1.
Faced with the need to spend more than £¾ million to make the improvements required to bring the property in line with disabled access legislation, it looked for a time as though it might have to be sold for redevelopment. This would have led to the loss of a much used facility. As well as being the home to the Town Council, the building houses the Athelstan Museum, the Tourist Information Office, and various meeting rooms used by a wide variety of organisations including a playgroup and a dancing school.
However a task force made up of various interested parties within the town and headed by the mayor, Councillor Jacky Martin, drew up a business plan for developing the use of the building. A low interest loan has been promised by the Public Works Loans Board, and the Minton Group, who are redeveloping the former Lucent Technologies site in Cowgrove, have promised £150,000.
The mayor expressed her delight at the decision, but emphasised that there is still a lot of hard work ahead to put into place their plans.
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