At a special meeting on Thursday 5th May, Midsomer Norton Town Council was invited to consider proposals for the transfer of community buildings in the town from Bath and North East Somerset Council to the Town Council.

The Town Council has decided to press ahead with ambitious plans to purchase the Town Hall and the Somer Centre and also take a 99-year lease on the Orchard Vale Hall. Work will now start to put the legal and financial arrangements in place to achieve the proposed transfers before the Town Council is invited to endorse the signing of contracts planned for September 2016.

The asset transfer programme has been running for some time and the Town Council has worked closely with B&NES Council on the options available to it. Cllr Charles Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency at Bath and North East Somerset Council said this week: “I am delighted with this decision and in being able to support Midsomer Norton Town Council in their aspirations. These disposals are being pursued under the Council’s programme of community asset transfers and are aimed at securing community benefits and enabling organisations to grow their capacity, improving the provision of services to the public.”

The purchase of the two community buildings is intended to be funded through loans from the Public Works Loans Board (PWLB) and work will now begin to prepare an application. The PWLB is a statutory Crown body that amongst other things, lends money to Parish and Town Councils at fixed rates for community projects. The Town Council will need to formally seek approval from the Department for Communities and Local Government to take out a loan, resolving to borrow funds to purchase both the Town Hall (£175,000) and the Somer Centre (£125,000). The Orchard Hall would be leased for a period of 99 years, with an option to end the lease if it is no longer viable to be used or repaired. Some of the £300,000 needed will come from the Council’s reserve, with the rest from the PWLB. The loan repayment would be a bi-annual sum using a fixed rate for the whole period of the loan, which could range from twenty to thirty years.

The Town Council plans to hold the freehold titles and leases in the Midsomer Norton Town Trust, of which it is the corporate Trustee. The Town Trust is in the process of being registered as a charity, which will ensure that the buildings can only be used for community purposes. This arrangement will mean that assets purchased by the Council for the benefit of the community remain in community ownership and cannot be disposed of in future without its agreement. It also provides a platform for securing future funding from external sources for the plans to transform the Town Hall. At the meeting, it was also resolved to create a community buildings contingency capital fund to mitigate risk on the properties.

“This was a defining moment for the town and the Town Council,” said Town Mayor, Cllr Paul Myers. “We have been working on this since the Town Council came into being in 2011, and reaching the point where we were able to decide whether to press ahead with the two building purchases and the lease was only possible after extensive work with B&NES Council and obtaining detailed legal advice. We are now working towards putting the final package to the Town Council for a decision by the end of the summer.”

The Town Hall is currently leased from B&NES Council by the Sarah Ann Trust and the Somer Centre is leased by the Midsomer Norton Community Association. The Town Council will be looking to work with all of the community to make sure that these buildings, along with the Orchard Vale Hall, are kept in the community for the benefit of the town and surrounding areas.