Welshpool Town Council has authorised the spending of up to £20,000 to carry out emergency repairs to the town hall clocktower.
At a full meeting of Welshpool Town Council, held on Wednesday, July 25, councillors were told that the issue was a “matter of urgency”.
Concerns were first raised in late June, after a chunk of debris was found on the ledge of the town hall roof, having broken off at some point during the past few weeks.
A drone survey of the roof, carried out a few weeks later by the operations team, revealed the scale of the disrepair and sparked fears that the state of the structure could be a potential hazard.
Councillors have agreed to consult experts on how best to move forward after the findings were presented by finance officer Vanessa Voysey.
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“Myself, the operations team and Cllr Howells met with an expert who specialises in heritage work," Ms Voysey said.
"In his professional view he told us the structure is repairable and has been damaged from general wear and tear related to age and weather.
“To cut that short, we’re asking for the council to authorise myself and the operations team to spend £20,000 to repair the clocktower, put scaffolding up to make it safe and cover us insurance wise as we’d risk being accused of negligence if no action was taken.
A chunk of debris from the Town Hall which needs repairing as a "matter of urgency", councillors were told. (Image: Josh Price)
“This is an estimate figure but as this council is not meeting again until September it would be good to authorise that to get work underway.”
The town council reportedly has £10,000 saved in their town hall repairs budget, with a further £15,000 in a special projects reserve for emergencies. Councillors were reassured that other committees would not have their budgets affected by the expenditure.
Cllr Nick Howells felt that the £20,000 was reasonable given the circumstances.
He explained: “Under health and safety law, we’ve now had a survey of it and identified it’s in a condition that could be a danger to public health.
A drone survey revealed the scale of the damage to the Town Hall roof. (Image: Alex Jones)
“If we don’t do anything and something happens, aware the danger was there, we’d be criminally negligent with nothing to offer in our defence.
“The level of risk, in this case severe, weighed against the level of cost, means I can say £20,000 is not a considerable amount of money when taking that serious risk into consideration.”
The council unanimously agreed to support spending the money on repairs.
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