At last night's Salisbury Area Board Meeting, Salisbury's City Hall was again on the agenda.
Councillors were given a further update by David Redfern, the officer leading the project team on City Hall for Wiltshire Council.
He updated on the ongoing progress and process with Salisbury City Hall, reiterating that Wiltshire Council intends to reopen City Hall as a live entertainment venue.
He stated that they were working to make progress with finalising the Prior Information Notice (PIN). This notice would signal to the market that Wiltshire Council are formally looking for a third-party operator that shares the vision for the project.
This is the next step following the soft-market test. Officers are hopeful to move forward with this before Christmas if possible.
Wiltshire Council hope to hold a community market engagement event, hopefully at City Hall, as part of the Prior Information Notice process.
Officers have also concluded that operating City Hall as a mixed venue with library and gallery space included wouldn't be viable.
It was also stated that no work will be carried out on preparing City Hall to reopen before detailed negotiations with a potential third-party operator are in progress.
After the presentation and questions from councillors and the public, Councillor Paul Sample made a motion to ask the cabinet to consider several points.
These include considering alternative operating models, including not-for-profit models, including a Salisbury City Hall Trust or a Community Interest Company similar to the one that currently runs St. Johns Place in Bemerton.
The motion, amongst other things, also requested that the City Hall be handed over in at least 'as good as' condition as when it transferred from Salisbury District Council in 2009.
Area Board Chair, Cllr Ricky Rogers, asked for it to be clarified that the alternative operating models would be a fallback option if the current process failed, which Cllr Sample agreed with.
Cllr Dr Mark McClelland raised several points of reluctance to support the motion. He didn't see it as the role of the area board to invite interested parties. He stated that was the role of Wiltshire Council.
He also found it inappropriate that the area board should dictate how activities such as remembrance are carried out.
The motion was carried after a vote with only one objection from Cllr Dr Mark McClelland.
Wiltshire Council have created a dedicated website for City Hall. The website will be updated with new information going forward and contain responses to recent freedom of information requests, building condition reports and other information - https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/salisbury-city-hall
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