Future of Armstrong Hall faces new twists

A ROW over the future of Thornbury’s Armstrong Hall could soon take a new twist.

Campaigners who want the complex renovated and re-opened are hoping the next intake of councillors elected to the town council will further their cause, as the council is the only member of the Armstrong Hall Trust, the hall's owner.

But that could change, as the trust has decided to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, which it says “will make it easier for a wider range of people to be involved in running the charity”.

The complex, which includes the Armstrong and Cossham halls, was shut at the start of the pandemic three years ago, and never re-opened.

The trust says the scale of the building work needed to make it safe to re-open left it no longer financially viable.

It hopes to sell the site for housing and use the money to build a new facility beside Turnberrie's Community Centre, in Bath Road.

But the Armstrong Hall Action Alliance (AHAA), founded two years ago, claims it can raise the £200,000 its members believe is needed for repairsplus £150,000 to get it off the ground as a viable non-profit business.

AHAA Spokesperson Jill Dimond said they have “friends in the professional performance area and other very wealthy people we can appeal to, who have already indicated interest”.

Jill said: “AHAA produced a viability study about 18 months ago, showing that the complex could be reopened and run with enough support.

"Since then, AHAA has been unable to develop a fully costed business plan, since the trustee has refused to discuss the matter any further.”

The AHAA has urged voters to elect candidates in May who want the hall complex reopened, and has listed supportive councillors on its Facebook page.

Town councillors automatically become “representatives” of the trust, so the AHAA hopes if sympathetic candidates are elected, it could result in changes to the current plans.

The group's Facebook post accuses the town council of putting in place "unnecessary and unfounded blockers to prevent the reopening".

Jill said AHAA members believe the complex could and should be run as a community business, using volunteers to help offset staffing costs.

In response to the Facebook campaign, the town council issued a statement responding to what it called “inaccurate communications”.

It said: “The Town Council is the Trustee of the Armstrong Hall Trust, but this is entirely separate to the role and responsibilities of the Town Council as a local authority.

“Armstrong Hall Trust finances must be entirely separate from those of the Town Council and the business of the Armstrong Hall Trust must be conducted entirely separately to the Town Council.

“Councillors are not Trustees. They are automatically representatives of the Trust, but this is a completely separate duty and role to that of local councillor.”

There have been two years of argument over the hall's future, including a parish poll last year in which residents voted by a large margin to call on the town council to carry out a new consultation, which has yet to take place. The council says it does not have a remit to carry one out.

However the hall's ownership arrangements could soon change.

A trust spokesperson said: “At the last meeting of the Trust it was agreed that the

Trust should look to moving its' governance towards a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (a not-for-profit charity).

"The new CIO will make it easier for a wider range of people to be involved in running the charity."