17th July 2009

Councillors vote to keep Pavilion open

By Paul Crompton

THE future of Weymouth Pavilion hung in the balance last week as councillors voted by the narrowest of margins to keep the historic building open if developers pullout.

As reported last week, the councillors gave developers Europa until September 30th to decide whether their plans to renovate the building are still viable.

In the event that the developers pull out councillors had to decide on the future of the complex.

Around 60 members of the public witnessed five members of Weymouth & Portland Borough Council’s Management Committee vote in favour of and four against retaining the building.

The vote means the committee will recommend the full council keep the Pavilion open at a cost of up to £460,00 to the taxpayer instead of demolishing it at a cost of  £1.28 million.

The money will come from existing council budgets to pay for improvements required at the site over the next five years.

The committee members also considered a third option, to mothball the complex at a cost of £300,000, but felt that option could leave the building open to vandalism.

Councillor David Manning said: “We should keep the Pavilion, mothballing it would leave it open to vandalism, and I think demolition is out of the question.

“I’ve been a regular user for over 20 years and Christmas would not be the same without the Pavilion, we have the best purpose built facility in the south west here.”

Briefholder for Partnerships and Special Projects Councillor Howard Legg said he felt that mothballing the Pavilion would make it an eyesore and be financially draining if and when it was reopened.

Councillors will also look into whether it should be managed internally and run as a trust or put out to an external management company.

A letter from UNISON, which was read out during the meeting, said the drawn out decision process was also having a detrimental affect on staff moral at the Pavilion.

Brief Holder for Leisure, Tourism and Community Facilities Councillor Brendan Webster spoke in favour of keeping the Pavilion open, saying: “It is an important place for a lot of people and to demolish the building would be to throw away a great opportunity for the town’s people to achieve their best.”

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