Maesteg Town Hall Renovation Update: So What Bridgend Council Is Plan D?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

For over a year I have written about the proposed renovation of Maesteg Town Hall. To recap for new readers it was used as a theatre with the basement being an indoor market (the market being around for one hundred and thirty five years).

However apparently urgent repairs were needed to this iconic building in the town. And Bridgend Labour Council decided that they wanted not to simply renovate the building but to create a grandiose "cultural hub" (the phrase alone makes me sick) with fancy glass everywhere.

This new "Cultural hub" is to include a library...in the basement. What that meant was that Bridgend Labour Council wanted the indoor market, the market remember that served the town for one hundred and thirty five years, to close.

Despite protests from the stallholders which I discussed in the previous posts Bridgend Council basically got it's way with regard to the market. Indeed my last post on this was about sadly walking around the place last month where I could only see one stall opened, and that was going to be relocated.

So it appeared the council had got their way. But there was a problem for them. That was to start creating the "cultural hub" they needed EU money (in a system administered by the Welsh office). It begged the questions if the EU money was not forthcoming did the Labour council have a Plan B? And why did no one know what the Plan B was? Indeed whether Plan B existed at all?

Now read on...as according to rumours published by the local newspaper the results are in.

Plan A: It's nil points for the EU money. According to the report the council asked for four million ponds. Four million pounds?! Just think of all the immediate things that could be done in the Bridgend area with four million pounds. Anyway that thought is academic as it was rejected.

And then we at last discover what Plan B was if Plan A was rejected.

Plan B: Apply to the Heritage Lottery Fund with basically the same application but at a cheaper cost (presumably less fancy glass). So to repeat Bridgend Council's Plan B was to apply for money from a different organisation for a cheaper version of Plan A.

Genius.....if it wasn't for the fact (according to the report) that it was rejected.

But wait for it, Bridgend Council have the foresight for a.....

Plan C: Which is according to reports a resubmission to the Heritage Lottery Fund. We don't know what the differences to Plan B are but I suspect a tinkering of the edges.

But if Plan C doesn't work then we have to talk about...

Plan D: It appears that Bridgend Labour council's alternate plans were basically that people would be wowed by the greatness of Plan A subject to minor changes. But the questions that were asked of Plan B needs to be asked here. If everybody is blind to the sheer loveliness of Plan A,B and C does the council have an alternative to the "cultural hub"? And if not why not? After all people's businesses and lives of those who worked in the market have been ruthlessly changed by the council in this entire process. If there is no alternative plan for the town hall then that is sheer arrogant incompetence at the very least.

Let me make a suggestion. Throw out the idea of a cultural hub and instead just renovate a fine building and use it for performances with the basement being a multifaceted retail facility that would protect customers and stallholders from the elements.

In other words an indoor market.

I suspect the cost would be a lot less as well.

Until the next time.