Debate on planned sale of Ripley Town Hall is put back

Councillors have voted to delay a debate about the proposed sale of Ripley Town Hall.

A 1,200-signature petition was handed in before the Amber Valley Borough Council meeting, calling for the hall to be returned to Ripley Town Council.

The borough council was given the 130-year-old building in the 1970s but plans to sell it to help save £2m over the next two years.

Councillors voted to defer a debate until they are closer to a decision. This seems somewhat strange because wouldn’t you have a debate to enable a decision to be reached? Perhaps that is why I am not a councillor – I do not have twisted logic!

Fight to stop sale of Ripley Town Hall

Campaigners have begun a fight to stop a council selling off a town hall in Derbyshire.

Ripley Town Hall was put up for sale by Amber Valley Borough Council in June.

The authority said selling the 130-year-old building and offices next door would help it save £2m over the next two years.

A petition with more than 1,200 signatures calls for ownership of the hall to be transferred to Ripley Town Council instead.

Ripley Town Council said it should be offered the building for free as it gave it to the borough council when the authority was created in the 1970s.

In a statement it said that if the town hall was sold then the police office, the registrar’s office, the town council’s offices, and the council chamber would have to be relocated, which would be “extremely costly and very problematic”.

The council said it was putting the 2.8-acre site on the market because the authority no longer needed such a large building. Then why not lease the excess to other businesses?

The sale of the property will be discussed at a council meeting on Wednesday.