Oakham Town Council may move to Victoria Hall in High Street during 2025

Any move by Oakham Town Council back to Victoria Hall would not happen until the end of the year, the council’s chairman has said.

At a meeting of Oakham Town Council held last night (Wednesday, February 12) Coun Paul Ainsley said due to existing rental commitments at the current base at ROL House in Long Row, November would be the earliest that the council would move back to its old home in High Street.

The move is not a done deal, as legal agreements need to be signed between the two parties. The hall, which is run by a charitable trust, has been struggling financially and last year had a £3,000 bailout from the town council.

The proposal is for the town council to use £18,000 of community infrastructure levy money towards a new boiler.

An annual rent of £8,500 for an office and priority access to a larger meeting room has been offered at Victoria Hall. The move would be a saving on the current rent costs to the authority, which pays £11,000 a year plus utility costs.

Town clerk Christopher Evans said the plan was for the town council to have the office to the left of the main entrance and the space to the right would have the stud wall removed to create a larger space for council meetings.

Coun Christopher Clark said: “What we are doing is improving a community facility. I would have thought this is a good investment for the town.”

While supporting the move, Coun Martin Brookes expressed concerns about costs, saying the council had spent a ‘huge sum’ on work to ROL House and had previously spent 'considerable' amounts on carpet at Victoria Hall, which has now been removed. He asked: “If we move, are we going to spend huge sums again?”

Coun Sally-Anne Wadsworth said she wanted to put on record the proposal was to pay £18,000 for the hall, as she had heard an incorrect rumour the amount would be £57,000.

A proposal to spend £5,425 on a website using money granted to Oakham Town Council by Rutland County Council from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, was also agreed. Rutland Webdesigner will get the contract, as the chairman said he was unaware of any other business with the expertise to build it.

The website will feature town retailers, which will have the ability to take control of their own page on the website.

The authority also approved spending £9,260 of grant funding on a deep clean of the town centre streets and just over £156,000 to refurbish the Church Street toilets with Metcalf Ltd being given the contract.

Eve Tempest was co-opted onto the council to represent the Barleythorpe Ward, despite not showing up to the meeting. No details about her were provided although the chairman said he had met her to ensure she was not a person of ‘ill repute’.