Completion date for town hall work pushed back again
THE expected completion date for a highly-anticipated historic hall redevelopment has been pushed back once again.
It was revealed that the Maesteg Town Hall redevelopment project is now expected to be completed in the summer, as opposed to spring, in a Bridgend County Borough Council Cabinet meeting on January 18.
The council said that £2,970 is being “slipped” into 2022-23 as part of the town hall’s redevelopment due to delays - a great part of which the council is pinning on Covid-19 and the need to “accommodate safe working conditions”.
Councillors in Maesteg expressed their frustration over the continued delays of the work on the Grade II listed building, which started in March 2020.
Independent Councillor for Maesteg East, Tom Beedle, said: “Everybody can see that it is running behind.
“I think the enormity of the task might have been underestimated because [they are] a long way from completing the front of that building.”
Cllr Beedle added that there is also frustration among groups that used to use the town hall and are expecting to return.
He said: “A lot of user groups are complaining because of the length of time that it is taking to complete this work. I think a lot of the residents of Maesteg have just got used to seeing scaffolding and not much progress being carried out.”
A report by the chief officer for finance performance and change at Bridgend County Borough Council adds that work on the town’s clock tower and the “requirement to delay other repair works due to the associated scaffolding required for the clock tower” has also added to delays.
At the council’s cabinet meeting, the Corporate Director for Communities, Janine Nightingale, said that the redevelopment “hasn’t been the easiest of projects to deliver”.
As well as having to limit the number of staff on site due to Covid, she said other issues like challenges procuring steel due to a shortage in the supply chain and problems with damp when removing the front steps had taken their toll on the project.
She added: “The property is so old, we have had issues throughout the whole project.
“There has been a little bit of extension in time. We think that we will now be completing that in the summer as opposed to in the spring.
“What I will say is that the building is looking absolutely fantastic.
“Admittedly it has taken longer than we wanted [it] to, but the one thing I will say is [that] when it comes down to restoration projects, the quality is in the finish now.
“What we don’t want to do is rush this back end of the project because that is where we will get the building looking really as it should.”
A number of capital spending schemes have been identified as requiring “slippage of budget to future years”.
The council’s total requested slippage at quarter three (from October to December) amounts to £30,029.
Other schemes, like the Porthcawl Regeneration project, The Waterton Upgrade and the Coastal Risk Management Programme among others have also been identified for slippage.